The Bell of Death
by The9Tard
Summary: As a baby Eevee she was always afraid of the dark and death. What happens when her best friend not only dwells in the dark, but he lives it? Can friendship overcome fear? Join two Pokemon in their challenge to not only stay together, but to prevent an ancient evil from escaping the Bell of Death. Rated T for possible violence in later chapters.
1. Pale Moonlight

_I've loved 1st generation Pokemon when I was a girl, and I was gonna write this after my MLP fic was done, but decided to get a head start.  
Beware readers! Cuteness ahoy! And some creepy settings.  
BTW, Zoryn is pronounced 'Z-or-n' And as far as I know there's no Cemetery or Town in Pokemon called that. I just made it up for the story.  
_

* * *

_Pale Moonlight_

It was a cold, lonely night in the Zoryn Cemetery. Darkness and shadows fell all around, and it was a full moon that hung over the Cemetery. The moon's eerie pale light only illuminated the fog that creeped over the graves, lighting the area.

A small Eevee stared up in fear at the large metal gates that hadn't been attended to by human hands in what looked to be years. It was so dark and cold that it made her light brown fur tingle. How she hated the night time. All she wanted to do was curl up in her warm bed and go to sleep.

She glanced behind her to the pack of snickering Eeveeloutions. There was a Leafeon, a Flareon, and a Jolteon, all giggling at her, giving her teasing looks, "Well?" Flareon smugly asked, "What are you waiting for?"  
"Yeah?" Jolteon mocked, "You gonna go in? Or are you a wimp like we thought?"  
Eevee looked back to the metal gates, then to them, "Well, I-" she hesitated. She was really scared, and she really didn't want to go in there.  
Leafeon let out a loud laugh, interrupting her, "See! I told you guys she wouldn't do it! She's too scared! Little Eevee's afraid of the dark!"

They all started to laugh at her, causing her to flush with embarrassment. Yes, she was scared-no-terrified of going in there. Not only had the young Pokémon been afraid of the dark since she was born, but if there was one thing she hated were graveyards. She had heard enough about this particular one next to the forest where she lived with her mother to know what it was used for.  
Not only that, but her mother had warned her to never go there because of the dangerous ghost Pokémon that could be lurking about. They were not only poisonous, but if you weren't careful they could steal and devour your soul!  
From then on she was terrified of the Zoryn Cemetery and swore to herself she'd never step foot inside of the horrible place, especially at night when the ghosts were about.

That is…except for tonight…

Puffing up her small chest, she stated as boldly as she could to the group, "I'm not afraid! And I'm going in there to prove it!"

Their laughter died down to snickers when Flareon mused, "Remember, you gotta stay in all night, at least until dawn. You wanna get back home before mommy wakes up and finds out your missing, don't you?"

Eevee bit her lip and looked at them in a small pout, feeling embarrassed at being looked at as a 'momma's girl'. Though she loved her mother, it was so humiliating sometimes.  
Puffing up again, she said in a loud tone, "I will!"

When Eevee turned around, she heard Leafeon hum, "See you in the morning…" she meant to tease her, probably knowing full well the youngster wouldn't be able to make it through the night.

Shaking, the tiny Pokémon squeezed through the bars of the gate, a simple thing to do for one so small and fluffy. Once she was through the rusty metal and stepped onto the long unruly grass, a shiver hit her body like nothing she felt before.  
It was an icy, unwelcoming feeling of dread and death that made the baby's stomach turn. The foggy Cemetery had rows upon rows of what seemed to be an endless supply of tombstones, mausoleums, and statues. She glanced behind her to the trio, who only waved their paws at her in a cruel motion of teasing.

Her determination and anger overwhelming her fear, she straightened herself up and forced her legs to start moving her forward. She walked into the Cemetery past the first few tombstones, the grass on her padded feet cold and wet. Eevee wasn't going to let those jerks push her around anymore! She was going to prove she could be just as brave and tough as the big kids!

But as she went on, further and deeper into the Cemetery, her fear began to return. The pale moon shined down on her in a less than comforting light and made her more scared than before. The light made the fog stand out and the shadows bigger than they needed to be. It didn't help with the conditions of the old graveyard either.  
The tombs hadn't been attended to in so long vines had begun to grow around them and cracks appeared on the stony surfaces. The words were faded and the flowers at the bases were dead or covered with weeds. It just furthered gave the place a feeling of death and neglect.  
Getting more frightened every step, she started to hang her head and keep her body low to the ground, as if the long grass would hide and protect her.

Then, as if out of nowhere, she was started to come upon what looked to be a very large tower with a huge bell on top. A big wooden door was at the bottom, bolted and rusted shut.

She frowned. Even though this was a horrible place, there was a hint of sadness that crossed her. How could the humans that lived in the town only a few miles away have left this place so decimated? A place that held their forever sleeping elders? She felt pity at how it had seemed…abandoned.

Suddenly, a loud hollow laugh rang out into the night air.

Eevee's breath was sucked back and caught in her throat, as if her lungs had stopped. Too gripped by fear to breathe, she darted her big brown eyes around frantically for the source of the laugh. It was to no avail and she eventually inhaled.  
It nearly caught again though when she felt a chill run up her spine, a very unfamiliar one. The young Pokémon looked all around her at any sign of movement, her heart beating a mile a minute.  
Then, it started to get cold, really cold, like winter. It was an icy vein that penetrated her skin through her fur and caused her to squeeze her legs together and wrap her poofy tail around them, shivering.

On the verge of a breakdown, she pathetically squeaked, "Mommy…" she didn't know why she said that. Just something to make her feel a little better.

The chill suddenly moved up and down her spine so violently it caused her to shake wildly, barely in control, when she heard it.

Breathing.

Short, slow breaths were coming from behind her shoulder, practically in her right ear. Spinning around in fright, she choked out a yelp when she came face to face with large sinister eyes with tiny black slits. Squeezing her tail around her even tighter and drooping her long ears, she wiggled in fright as the anomaly before her started to float up.

It looked to be a black floating sphere surrounded with a dark purple ghostly aura. It had large slit eyes that looked at her mischievously and a stretched grin across it's 'face' with what looked to be very sharp teeth and fangs. It was a Pokémon all right. She had no idea what it was called, but she defiantly knew this was a Ghost Pokémon.

The ghost floated higher over her, making itself seem bigger than it was and she only recoiled back, too scared to move. She had no idea what the thing was going to do, but she braced for impact. If this guy tried to attack her, it could most likely be fatal as it could steal her soul.  
Its look went from that of mischievous to a leer. If it was trying to make her more frightened by changing expressions, it was certainly working and she expected her heart to stop at any moment.

Without warning, the Pokémon did a small lunge in the air at her and made a loud but short scream.

The sudden move made Eevee shriek and fall onto her back, scared out of her mind.

Unexpectedly, the Ghost Pokémon didn't attack, but instead rolled back in the air cackling. It was amused by her reaction. It was laughing at her!  
Unable to control herself, the sudden adrenaline rush coupled with the embarrassment and fear caused the baby Pokémon to burst into tears right in front of it.

The ghost stopped laughing almost immediately and watched as Eevee pulled herself into a small ball on her side, facing away from it, and continued to sob uncontrollably. Tears were rapidly rolling down her face and she buried it into the grass, completely forgetting the danger she was currently in with the Ghost Pokémon right behind her.  
She didn't care though. She wanted to go home. She wanted to go back home to her mother and crawl safe into bed, snuggled up against her warm pink fur instead of being outside on the damp ground, sobbing like the biggest crybaby in the world.

She curled up tighter, unable to contain her fear of the surrounding darkness and began talking to herself, "I-I-I a-adm-mi-midt i-it." She sobbed, crying so hard she began to hiccup, "I-I-(hic)-I'm n-no-not bra-a-ave(hic). I j-just wa-an-anna go h-ho-(hic)-home! M-mo-momm-(hic)-mommy!"

The Ghost Pokémon behind her drooped in the air and it's brows furrowed into a confused, then saddened gaze. He didn't mean to make the little Pokémon cry, he was just trying to scare her.

Eevee's sobs stiffened when she felt a nudge on her back, followed by her muscles tightening when she heard a male voice say, "Don't cry."

She twisted her neck slight to see the Ghost Pokémon looking down at her, guilt apparent on its face. It-or he judging by the voice-had spoken to her?  
He seemed to try to smile at her, but that did nothing to comfort her as his fangs were revealed and she once again felt tears still flow down her cheeks.

His smile vanished into a big frown, unsatisfied.

He pondered for a few seconds before he suddenly floated upwards a bit towards her front. When she scooted away from him, the ghost suddenly grinned and stuck its tongue out at her.

The Eevee froze, knowing full well that Ghost Pokémon's tongues were poisonous and getting licked had a high chance of causing paralysis or even death.

Instead of using that attack, the ghost opened its mouth and made a loud, "GAAAHH!" sound. It wasn't a yell, it was just a weird noise.

She cried still, but she cocked her head, unsure what that was for.

Disappointed, he pulled its tongue back in and tried something else. He rolled so that he was upside down and grinned very goofily, making more ridiculous noises.  
Her fear turned into more of confusion, tears slowing and she started to sit up.

_What in the world is he doing?_ She wondered. _Is he…trying to make me laugh?_

Smiling wildly, he started to do all sorts of loops and spins around her in the air to a point he was starting to get dizzy.  
Without meaning to, a small grin was tugging at Eevee's lips.

Becoming more satisfied, the ghost stopped spinning and used the purple aura around him as 'hands' to tug the lids underneath his eyes downward, sticking his tongue out again and making a big, "NEEEEEHHHH!" sound.  
That caused Eevee to break down into giggles this time and her ears perked up again, not as frightened as before.

When she laughed, the ghost smiled at her, happy to have cheered the Pokémon he scared up.

Her laughing stopped though when he floated down to her and asked, "Are you okay?" his voice was resonating and lost, the tone of death, "Will you be fine?"

Not knowing how to answer, as the fear was still there, she mumbled a little, "I…think so." Her hiccups had at least gone away, but the brown fur on her cheeks was still wet with tears.  
He nodded, or moved his body back and forth since he didn't really have a neck, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you cry so bad. I was only having some fun, I meant no harm."  
She didn't believe him at first. After all, he was a ghost and she knew they could be very tricky. The way he spoke and looked at her though was so genuinely apologetic it was impossible to think he had any other intentions. Slowly, she frowned, "Fun? By scaring the daylights out of Pokémon?"

"Yeah!" he suddenly beamed, making her eyes widened, "It's a whole lot of fun to see someone screaming all the way home! Come on it's just a harmless prank! It's not fun when your victim has a breakdown though." His happiness faded back down into guilt, "Again, I am really sorry. I didn't mean to scare you so bad, honest and for truly."  
She perked up a bit. 'honest and for truly'? This guy didn't speak like a grown up. In fact, now that he was practically level with her he did look kinda small. His round body was only as big as hers.  
Was he maybe a baby? A youngling like her?

"Uh, who are you? Or…what?" she managed to ask, looking the orb up and down again. He grinned wide, "I'm Ghastly! What are you?"  
She leaned on her side a bit, "You don't know?" "No, not really." He admitted, "To be honest, I've only seen a few other 'normal' Pokémon around here, and none have looked like you. All the others were ghost Pokémon. I'm not that old so I haven't really learned a lot about the outside world."

She knew it, he was defiantly a kid just like her! A scary one at that, but still one.

She nodded slightly and said, "Well, I'm Eevee." "Hi Eevee!" Ghastly exclaimed, making her flinch slightly.  
When he started to float around her for no reason, she couldn't help but ask, "Ghastly, how long have you lived here?" "I've lived in the bell tower all my life!" he said, "So that'd be about 6 years in Pokémon life, I think."

_He's two years older than me._

"What about you?" he got in her face again, "Where do you live?"  
She hesitated, not exactly wanting to tell Ghastly where she lived, "Uh, in the forest nearby…in a tree with my mother." Something hit her suddenly and she became apprehensive, "Hey, do you...erm…live with your parents?" When she said that she looked around cautiously.  
He moved side to side in a shake, "Nope. Been on my own since I hatched."  
She gawked at him, "Huh?"  
"Ghost Pokémon like me tend to look after themselves. We already have our powers and defenses, so we don't really need a caretaker when we're born." He said it nonchalantly, as if it was no big deal, but the news was appalling to her. How sad it was to not have parents! It seemed cruel to leave your baby behind, ghost or not. He smiled at her, "But there are a few Ghost Pokémon living here in the graveyard that I talk to. They're pretty friendly once you get to know them."

"B-but, if you have no family and only a few ghosts are around here and most of the other Pokémon you scare away, don't you get…a little…lonely?" she had no idea why she asked that, it sorta came out. Pity perhaps?

He frowned a little and looked away slightly, "Well, a little. None of the grown Pokémon here want to play, and it's hard to make friends with other Pokémon when most are too scared of either you or your home…" he then focused on her, "In fact, you're obviously terrified of this place and my kind. Why are you here on this lovely moonlit night? Did you get lost? Do you need me to guide you out?"  
She shook her head, "No, nothing like that. I, uh, it sounds so silly now…" she chuckled a bit uneasily, "Um, I was dared to come in by three kids near my home."

He tilted his body to the side, as if he was cocking his head, "Dared?"

"Uh huh." She continued, "They're Flareon, Leafeon, and Jolteon. They used to be Eevees like me, only older, but they transformed eventually by finding some stones. It's the only way Eevees can evolve, else we'll be like this forever. Because I'm still little I haven't been able to find a stone to make me transform, so they make fun of me for it." Eevee was starting to get upset again and tears were forming in her eyes, "Not only that but I scare easy. I'm really afraid of the dark, and Cemeteries, and ghosts…and they know it. They're always scaring me and picking on me, saying I'll never be brave or evolved like them or my momma so I came here to prove it and-" she choked out some tears and looked away from him, embarrassed that she was once again crying, "M-maybe I am a-a crybaby…"

"Oh no! Don't cry!" she heard him say, but didn't turn her head back. Then she felt something, soft and cold as mist, brush against her right cheek and wiped her tears away.

She looked back to him and he was frowning, not just out of pity but anger, "Those big jerks!" he used the unknown misty force around him to wipe her left cheek free of tears, "It's one thing to play a little prank on someone with a good scare, but it's just mean to scare someone just to make them cry!" she was surprised by the boy's anger and he floated up, looking around, "Where are they? I'll scare them so bad they'll join the afterlife!"  
He was a prankster, but not a bully, and the thought of bullies picking on someone just cause they haven't evolved yet was so mean!

Eevee awkwardly bowed her head, "Oh, please don't. I don't think my mother would approve." He huffed and floated back down to her, "But don't feel bad." He said, trying to sound as reassuring as his ghostly voice would allow, "I mean, I know it's pretty tough to have only one other evolve form and have others tease you for it. I mean, when I'm old and experienced enough, I'll turn into a Haunter someday, but I could never turn into a Gengar on my own. I have to be traded by a trainer for that, but there isn't away way I'm getting caught. So I'll most likely remain a Haunter for all my life."  
He grinned a bit, and she only nodded her head. She had no idea what a 'Haunter' or a 'Gengar' were, but if they were scarier than even him she was wary.  
He suddenly beamed, "Besides! Why would you wanna transform anyway! You're adorable!"

His sudden compliment made her smile a bit, feeling a little prouder of herself.  
He meant it though. The little Pokemon before him was small and all fluffy with tan fur. She had a large amount of cream colored fluff around her neck and tiny slender legs, straight long ears that stuck up and a big poofy tail with a small cream color on the tip. Her eyes were big and brown, much like mud. He liked the color of mud. So brown…  
Did he mention she was adorable? How she could have confidence issues was beyond him.

Ghastly smiled wider, "Hey! The sun's not gonna come up for another few hours! Do you wanna play with me around the graveyard? It'll be fun!"  
Eevee doubted that playing in a graveyard was fun at all, but it was obvious just how lonely he was and she couldn't keep from refusing, "Uh, sure. For a little while."

She could have sworn he was going to explode when he twirled around in the air, "Yay!" Ghastly then turned around, "Come on! I wanna show you the bell tower first!" he flew toward the bolted door and fazed right through it.

Eevee only stared, knowing she couldn't do that. After a few seconds, Ghastly popped back out, "Oops, sorry. I forgot you're not a ghost Pokémon. That's okay! I got another way." As if by some unknown force, the door creaked open on its own. To say it was creepy was an understatement.  
He flew back into the dark tower, "Come on!"  
Eevee took a deep cautious breath and walked in. Ghastly was floating next to her side, so at least she wasn't alone as they ascended the stone stairway.

It wasn't a very tall tower, and when they reached the opened top there was the large rusted bell hanging there. It was the biggest bell she'd ever seen, and she reached a paw towards it. Ghastly appeared in front of her, "Don't touch it!" he exclaimed.  
She gasped and nearly fell back down the stairs, "Wh-why?"

Ghastly tuned towards the enormous bell, "This is the Bell of Death. It's said to be an object of incredible power, only to be rung in times of great desperation. According to legend, if you ring it a total of twelve times at midnight, you will summon some kind of creature capable of devouring souls. It's supposed to be used on the graveyard for evil spirits, problem is the last time it was used the creature kinda devoured every soul trapped here, Pokémon included. Even living ones." He floated around it, "Hasn't been used since. Although it's way past midnight and it's just an old ghost tale, better safe than sorry."

Eevee stared at the ominous large bell when Ghastly said, "But that's not all I wanted to show you." She turned towards him and he floated around the opening of the tower, "I wanted to show you this!"

Eevee looked around her, and gasped.

It was a sight of the graveyard, and it looked beautiful. The shadows and fog that were once so scary were defined by the moonlight, ascending the Cemetery. The statures and tombstones shined under the moon's glow like bright stars, and the long grass was greener than it had ever been.  
Ghastly's lips stretched into a wide smile, "See? Beautiful isn't it? Graveyards aren't so bad, as long as you look at them in a different light. The older ghosts tell me it was a lot prettier once, back when people visited. Ever since the bell tower incident, people didn't come back. It's a shame really."

He snapped Eevee out of her trance with a nudge of his forehead, "Hey Eevee! Tag you're it!" she only blinked at him a few times as she zoomed back down the stairs.

Once realization hit her, she couldn't help but smile and chase after the ghost, suddenly not fearing the graveyard as much.

The two children chased and played with each other for hours around the Cemetery. Although Eevee was still a little afraid of certain areas, Ghastly was always there to assure her and make her laugh. He was good at that, a real joker at heart, or spirit.  
They hoped around the tombstones and up on the mausoleums in chases. At one point Eevee worried they'd bother the ghosts, but Ghastly assured her as long as they don't exhume the mausoleums or bury around the tombstones they won't awake the dead.  
She started to notice a few extra eyes here and there at the Cemetery, staring at her with hunger. Ghastly was by her side to make sure none of the other spirits would eat her soul. They were fellow Pokémon, and as long as they knew she was his friend then they wouldn't harm her.

They played until the sun began to rise, to which Eevee had to say goodbye. Ghastly pouted, "You're leaving already?"  
She felt sad. It had been hours but in a way felt like minutes, "I'm sorry Ghastly. I wanna play more but momma might worry. I gotta get home."  
He nodded, "It's okay, hate sunlight anyway." He was still heavily disappointed that his playmate was going to leave.

She frowned, equally disappointed until she got an idea, "Hey, don't worry Ghastly. If you want I'll come visit again tonight."  
He perked up immediately, "Really? And we can play more?"  
Eevee happily nodded, "Sure!"

After a happy flip in the air, Ghastly lead Eevee back up to the metal gates she came in.

They were saying goodbye when the three Eeveeloutions from the night before approached. Ghastly disappeared from sight and she turned to them. They looked tired to be up so early, but even more shocked that she had been in there all night.  
Proud of herself, Eevee wiggled through the bars and hopped to them, "Hey guys! Beautiful morning isn't it?" She smiled big, "I told you I was brave!"

The three gapped at her, speechless. It was obvious she had done something they never could, and they were jealous of her for it.

Finally, Jolteon regained herself and said in a snobby fashion, "What, you think spending a night in a graveyard proves anything? Just means it's the only thing you're good at, and there's no stone involved with playing around the dead. You'll still never be important."  
The others started to giggle and Eevee's pride deflated faster than a balloon. Her ears drooped and she bowed her head as the other girls laughed at her.

She looked back up to them when the laughing abruptly stopped. They were looking at her in horror.

She was confused at first. That is, until she felt the familiar chill return. She looked behind her to see what looked to be a purple mist with huge glowing red eyes and a mouthful of teeth. At first she was surprised, but instead only look at him blankly.

The figure snarled, "So many living souls have come into my domain? Well, I guess I'll just have to eat you all!" the creature bellowed at the three.

The girls all shrieked and ran away screaming-and crying-to their mothers back in the woods.

Eevee fell onto her back laughing so hard. The mist disappeared to reveal Ghastly rolling around in the air, laughing just as joyously.  
When they were done, she got back up, "Thanks Ghastly."  
The Ghost Pokémon bowed a bit, "No prob." He gave a glance to the sun and shrugged away, "See you tomorrow! It'll be too bright soon."

With that he vanished from sight just as before.

Looking back tiredly to the forest, Eevee walked back home, making it back in time just before her mother awoke to the rising sun.  
She would be restless after a long nap and for the rest of the day thinking about her new and only friend. Even if he was a ghost, it was nice to have someone your age to relate to.

_What kind of games will we play tonight?_

* * *

_Stay tuned for the next chapter!  
_


	2. Night Games

_Here's another one! It's not as long as the first but still fun to write. XD  
Hope you enjoy this story! I think it's cute so far! I still need advice whether to change this to friendship/romance or keep it strictly friendship.  
I'm leaning more towards friendship right now.  
_

* * *

_Chapter 2: Night Games_

Eevee's mother, Espeon, noticed how strange her daughter was acting that day. Normally, the poor thing was depressed with confidence issues. She was convinced she'd never evolve, or that she wasn't cute enough, or that she wasn't big or brave enough.  
Eevee didn't need to worry about that kind of thing at her age, but she was already concerned and no matter how much Espeon comforted her it didn't make an impact.

Part of the problem could be because she was an Espeon herself, a rare form, while Eevee was still just a little adolescent. In a way, that could be intimidating to the poor child, and it didn't help things that most of the other children around were either too old to play with or evolved.

However, today all of that seemed to change. Her daughter looked a little tired, but she was happy. She bounced around and smiled a lot, the most she's seen since the child was born.

She stood at the base of their tree, watching her little Eevee eagerly chase catch some of the tiny bugs flying around. Espeon smiled at her, "Well, you seem in a good mood this morning."  
Eevee looked over at her pretty mother and smiled, "Uh huh! I sure am mamma!" She smiled at her, happy to hear that. Ever since they moved into the tree there, she daughter hadn't had a lot of luck making friends with some of the older children around. It seemed like that had changed.  
She didn't want to pry though; Espeon knew her Eevee would tell her in time. She was a psychic Pokémon after all, and she had a feel for these things.  
Eevee knew that her mother was looking at her inquisitively. If she told her mother that she not only went without permission into the Cemetery but befriended a Ghost Pokémon she'd get in so much trouble. So instead she sheepishly smiled and decided to go towards some nearby bushes to munch on some berries.  
While she chewed on the sweet red berries, she looked around a bit and became lost in her thoughts. Though she was new there and had a hard time getting along with others, Eevee had to admit her home was lovely, and the tree burrow she lived in was cozy. There were a few Pokémon around in other trees, or others living in the nearby river. It was a good home, but being the new kid and a baby it was hard to make friends still.  
Eevee continued chewing on some berries when she noticed Jolteon, Flareon, and Leafeon nearby. She looked to them and gave them a sinister smile, trying her best to look like Ghastly.

The three girls shivered and moved quickly away to the river, trying to avoid eye contact.

Satisfied, she smiled to herself, internally grateful they had stopped bullying her for the meantime. She couldn't wait to see Ghastly again.

Later that night, after all the Pokémon in the nearby trees or river had gone to sleep around eleven, Eevee crept away from her sleeping mother and outside into the night air. She shivered in the cool night, afraid of the darkness. It was a full moon again, but the forest trees covered a lot of the light.

Trotting, she began to make her way back to the Zoryn Cemetery, trying to move quickly to escape the darkness.

Once she came upon the familiar metal gates, she snuck in and headed towards the center of the graveyard, where she knew the bell tower to be.  
Eevee approached its large bolted door, once again closed and looked around for her friend, "Ghastly?" she called, "Where are you?"

An answer didn't come for a few minutes until she felt the chill and something cold blew into her left ear. She nearly jumped into the sky at the feeling and looked to her side to see Ghastly laughing loudly at spooking her, "Got ya!"  
Being a good sport, her nerves went away and she laughed a bit, "Hey Ghastly!"

He smiled, "Hi! I knew you'd come back!" he spun around a bit, "I have a great game tonight!"

"Really?" She quizzically perked her ears, "What is it?"

"I'll show ya." He gleefully giggled and flew away. Shrugging, she followed him through the graveyard, curious to see what he had planned.

"Okay, why are we here?" Eevee looked over to the ghost next to her. He was smiling like a maniac.  
They were hiding in some bushes in front of a large Beedrill nest not too far off from the Graveyard. They were all sleeping, some were patrolling here and there but they were on the other end of the hive. Weedles, Kakunas, and Beedrills were scattered about, and she still had no idea what was going on. He turned to her and whispered, "We're gonna scare them."  
"We?" Eevee frowned, "Okay, look, I'm not a prankster. Besides, won't it be mean to scare them when they're sleeping?"  
"Oh no, no." he shook side to side, "If I knew that then I wouldn't bother them while they're sleeping. Thing is Weedles actually like getting scared. They're really good sports about it, certainly better than Caterpies. I have no idea why they think it's so funny. Maybe because it's a challenge to their pride? I don't know, possibly has something to do with being a Beedrill. They really like to get spooked when they least expect it, since it's more of a scare and a laugh. Honest!"

"Well…" she didn't think he would lie to her about this. After all he said he wasn't a bully prankster. She's never play scared anyone before, maybe it was fun? How harmful could it be?  
"Okay, let's do it."  
He beamed at her and nudged her side, "Right! Go on!"

She walked through the bushes with him floating overhead. Ghastly floated upwards towards the sleeping group. Eevee watched him, "What do we do?"  
"Scream as loud as you can." He whispered. She got nervous, "Are you sure this is a good idea?"  
The ghost looked to her, "Relax, I've done this before. Weedles love this!"

Working off her nerves, Ghastly counted down, "Ready? 5-4-3-2-1!"

He let out a very loud, hollowed scream that completely masked Eevee's shrill cry.

The entire hive, Weedles, Kakunas, and Beedrills all awoke with a startled jump, looking around as if their bug eyes would pop from their skull.  
After a few seconds, when the group focused on the two, Eevee got nervous, afraid they had done something bad.  
However, the young Weedles staring at them rolled over and started laughing, despite the brief fear. Once they saw that it wasn't any danger, it was funny to them.

She looked over to Ghastly who was laughing along with the kids; getting a feeling this definitely isn't the first time he's spooked the hive.  
Eevee started to laugh too. It was fun! As long as they didn't cry it was fun to get a good scare!

That was…until the angry buzzing started.

The laughing from everyone stopped, including the Weedles, when the Beedrills stared at the two with very pissed pink eyes. The Weedles began to protest but to no avail. Kakunas of course didn't react.

Ghastly was laughing still and flew away, "Time to go!" Eevee got wide eyes and quickly ran off under him.

The very angry Beedrills chased them both out of the hive and back into the fields that separated the forest from the Cemetery. Eevee was scared, not eager of the idea of getting stung. However, Ghastly was just laughing loudly at the chase, enjoying it.  
His joy was contagious as the reality of the situation hit her. In an ironic, mischievous way, the scene must look funny. Two kids, one a Ghastly the other an Eevee, getting chased in the forest by rattling a bunch of angry Beedrills must look pretty silly.

Unable to hold it in, she also because to laugh and they both made a mad dash towards the Cemetery. Once they reached the gates, Eevee hopped in between the metal bars while Ghastly just fazed through. The Beedrills stopped in their tracks and hovered there for several seconds. They knew better than to go into the Zoryn Cemetery. They, like all the other Pokémon in the area, knew the stories and the dangers of going there. Normally they'd never give up the chase that easily, but self preservation was better than revenge at the moment.  
Annoyed that the mischievous Ghost Pokémon had gotten away AGAIN, the group flew back to the hive.

Once they were gone, Ghastly and Eevee had stopped running and collapsed in the middle of the graveyard in front of the tower, laughing and completely out of breath. Once they were able to relax, Eevee looked to him, wearily smiling, "Y-you're crazy, you know that?"  
He snickered a few times and smiled back, "M-maybe a little bit. Ha ha, did you see the look on their faces? The grownups were so mad!"  
They laughed a little more and Eevee asked, "Wh-why did they chase us? I thought you said Weedles were good sports." "They are!" he breathed, "Beedrills aren't! Told you grownups are no fun. Besides, I've kinda done it a few times before, so they're probably still sore at me for it."

She just giggled a little bit more before she let her aching chest relax, "Well that was fun still!" "I know right! I told you a good scare was fun!" he floated upwards, "Moon's still high. Wanna go prank some more?"  
She didn't hesitate, "Sure!" Eevee hopped to her feet and followed him again through the graveyard.

They spent their time that night playing outside of the Graveyard. Any other Pokémon nearby were spooked by them and either ran off or laughed. None cried though, and they never went too far. It was harmless things, like jumping from the bushes, or sneaking from the shadows. She even found out Ghastly could turn invisible and lift objects like rocks or things and make it seem like they were floating. That usually had other freaking out.  
It was a load of fun, and when they were done with pranks they went back to the graveyard and started playing other games. Like the night before, they played tag but also hide and seek this time. It was one of Eevee's favorite games, and there were plenty of tombstones and statues to hide behind.

"10-9-8…" she snickered, her eyes closed tight while she faced the old tree in the Cemetery, "7-6…54321 ready or not here I come!" she blurted out and opened her eyes to begin looking all over the graveyard. She looked for half an hour high and low, but couldn't find him, and he promised he wouldn't hide in the bell tower.

She was about to give up and cry 'olly-olly-oxenfree', when she heard some quiet cackling nearby. Stalking towards the sound, she looked behind the tombstone where it was coming from but saw nothing. She knew then he was invisible, "Hey!" she jumped towards the air and like she expected hit something. She toppled over on something round and in a flash Ghastly appeared, "Aw! Darn! You found me!" he moaned, wiggling until she was off of him.  
Eevee backed up and gave a fake pout, "Ghastly!" she whined, "You aren't supposed to turn invisible! That's cheating!"  
He pouted a bit, "Daww, sorry Eve. I was just playing! I won't do it again, honest and for truly!" She had to smirk at that 'honest and for truly' line again. Must have been some kind of habit he had. Apparently he's also come up with a knick name for her.

_Eve…yeah, I kinda like it. I'll let it slide._

He continued giving her big eyes and she found it surprisingly hard to stay annoyed, "Well, okay. But you have to find me now." He agreed and floated back to the tree, she ran off and teased, "And no peaking!"

That's how it was for the rest of the night. They continued to play hide and seek or talk to each other. She found out that he really does eat souls, but contrary to most belief he can live for long periods without it. He can also eat other things too, like berries or poffins. In fact, he said souls sometimes taste like berries.

When the subject somehow went from food to Humans, Eevee had to ask, "Ghastly, have you ever seen a human?"  
"No." he shook, "The others have told me about them though, and to stay away." Eevee frowned, "Why? My mamma told me about humans and never said anything bad about them, not really." "Yeah, well, you might be wrong." His voice became cautious, as if he was actually scared, "Humans are dangerous. If they don't catch you, they will do awful experiments. Trainers are one thing, but one of the grownups here, a Gengar, told me he escaped from some wearing some weird 'TR' labeled uniforms once after enduring awful treatment. He was more like a slave than a companion, and in the struggle to get away he lost his right eye!"  
Eve winced in fear when he got closer to her, his voice becoming deep, "So as far as I'm concerned, I'm staying away from them. Only human I wanna be around are the dead ones here, cause they can't hurt us. Heed my warning Eve, stay away from humans. Especially ones wearing 'TR' labeled uniforms."

He looked past her and his tone reverted back to normal, "Uh oh! Sun's already rising! I gotta get away and you gotta get home!" She looked over her shoulder and gasped at the urgent realization.  
After a hasty goodbye and promising to come back again tonight, she fled from the graveyard and knew the way to the gates by now.

When she went back home, Ghastly fled back into the bell tower, angry at the sun for its brightness and bad timing.


	3. Tears of a Ghost

_In this chapter, i tried to show the more animalistic instinct in Pokemon. Remember, as clever and even human-like as Pokemon are, they do have more animal-esc impulses than humans.  
_

* * *

_Chapter 3: Tears of a Ghost_

Days turned into weeks, and then into months.

Every night, Eevee would come to visit Ghastly in the Zoryn Cemetery. Though she would see the eyes of the ghosts there, they always kept their distance. It made her a little grateful, especially since they were more dangerous than Ghastly.

At first staying up for most or all of the night was exhausting for Eevee, but as time went on she somehow grew more accustomed to the night time. It wasn't as scary anymore, and she could feel herself starting to like it. Ghastly was so nice and it was like he opened a whole new world to her, the world of darkness.  
Contrary to what most may think, it's not scary or evil. If you just looked at it with a different view or image, darkness can look very beautiful.

One night, while they were exploring the graveyard, something would spook her like nothing had before…

"So what's it like to have legs?" Ghastly circled playfully around Eevee in the air, like he usually did.

Eevee smiled up to him, "Legs? You mean what's it like to have limbs and walk around?"

"Uh huh. Like…what's it like to be able to run or…touch things?" He hovered in front of her and his tone became oddly serious. She stopped walking and just stood in front of him, curious. He reached out with the purple aura round him and brushed her face, but it just felt like cool mist, "See? I can grab things, but I can't really FEEL them. It's just a like a piece of rock to me. So what's it like to have legs and feel the grass on your feet? To run?"

She blinked a few times, stunned by his sudden 'limb envy' and looked to her own little brown paws. She lifted her right one up and flexed her toes a bit, "Well, with feet or hands you can feel lots of things. Sometimes, when the day is hot, rocks or sand you walk on will burn you. Other times, on nights like this, the grass under you feels cool and damp. With hands and fingers, you can grab and pick up things, and those are very useful. I can't do a whole lot with that, but my momma is a psychic Pokémon. She can sometimes lift things with her mind. It's really neat!"  
The baby Eevee put her foot back down, "But, in all seriousness, having legs is great and all but running can be tiring. Flying around is much more interesting, and it looks a lot less tiring too! I wish I was a flying-type Pokémon so I could float around with you!"

Ghastly's serious expression was replaced with amusement and slight flattery, "Thanks! Say, someday when I'm big enough, would you like a ride? I can lift you over the graveyard and we could go flying! How about it?"

Her big brown eyes widened, "Really? Oh Ghastly that would be-"

She stopped when his happy expression was wiped from his face and he turned away from her. She shook her head.

Eve had known him for several months, yet she still hadn't gotten used to his odd mood swings.

His black eyes darted all around the Cemetery, and without warning they turned into such thin slits that they looked invisible and his bared his fangs, "Intruders! The living are here!"

Before she had time to ask what he was talking about, Ghastly zoomed behind a large nearby tombstone, "Hide!" his hissed frantically.

Eevee jumped behind the grave and sat right next to him. She nudged the dark sphere out of impatience, "Ghastly? What is it? What's going on?"  
"Shhh!" he snapped, spinning around to face her, "Can you not smell them? There are two living creatures here. They are nearing! Stay quiet until we know what we are dealing with! It could be dangerous!"

She gulped and nodded. It was true. If anything, even another Pokémon, would dare to come here they would have to be bold. Either that, or stupid.

Still, it was better safe than sorry, right?

The two Pokémon hid and waited for any sign of the 'intruders'. A few minutes passed without a sound. The cemetery was quieter than usual.  
Empty and hollow, the night sky clouded, the crickets quiet, the wind still.

Silent. As if many eyes were bearing down on something. Watching, waiting to pounce…

Then, there was a rustling of the grass that caused Eevee's ears to perk up. A scent also caught her attention, two to be exact. They were both very different, but underneath the outer layer was a similar smell. They were alive, but no Pokémon. In fact, she wasn't familiar with this scent at all, and that uneasy feeling made her fur stand up.

More rustling gave away a duo set of footsteps. Eve leaned from behind the tombstone a bit further as two figures appeared from the darkness. Her jaw dropped from the sight.

Two…creatures…with shining lights walked from the opposite side of the Cemetery. They weren't like anything she's ever seen before.

One of them was small and looked very young, maybe only 8 or 9? It was wearing a pink-what was it called-shirt with a matching skirt, along with some white, erm, shoes. It's, or her, hair was dark green and fell to her tiny shoulders, and her skin was bare and fleshy. No fur or scales. The only amount of fur was on her round, chubby head, and that was just her hair.  
The other one was taller and looked a little older, probably 13, and Eve guessed it was a boy. This one was wearing kacky-colored shorts, some boots, and a red shirt. His hair was short and a little spiky, but the same color as the younger one's. His face was longer than the female's as well.

They both walked up right on two legs, had arms and hands, and five fingers on each one. That was a lot of fingers!  
They both also had two blue eyes on the front of their faces.

Judging by their similarities, they had to be related. Siblings, perhaps?

Eevee didn't have to ask Ghastly what the strange creatures were. From all the stories and descriptions she's heard, the baby knew they were humans.

She moved her eyes to the right and the look Ghastly was giving them confirmed it. He knew they were humans as well, and he seemed to be both scared and angered by their presence. She knew the main source of his hostility was territorial. All Pokémon had an animalistic territorial need to protect their home. They were no exception.  
Though the Cemetery wasn't her home, it was her friend's home, and if need be she'd fight to keep it safe.

However, the humans weren't as intimidating as Ghastly made them out to be. They looked small, fragile even. How dangerous could they be?

Then the human male spoke quietly, "Man, I'm surprised we haven't run into a single Ghost Pokémon yet!"  
"Shut up Max!" the little female whined at 'Max', "They might hear you! And I still don't wanna see one!"  
The boy snickered at her, "What's da matter, wittle Abby?" he said to the girl in baby talk, "You scared of the Ghosties after all? Maybe you're not brave enough to explore with the big kids?"

Eevee flinched. She knew this method very well. Other bullies at her forest would tease her size and age, daring her to act with them to feel like a 'big kid'.  
It was exactly the same technique that caused her to come into the Graveyard in the first place…

Just like she had, 'Abby' fell for the tease just as easily, "Nu uh! I'm not scared!" she pursed her lips, "I'm not afraid of ghosts! And I'm gonna prove it to you by meeting one! You'll see!"

It made the knots in her stomach twist at the thought of the hungry ghosts currently watching the two fresh souls in their home. These children shouldn't be here.  
Oh, why did they have to be here?

"Ghastly." She whispered, looking around, "Why haven't they been attacked by the other ghosts?"

He didn't look at her, but he answered, "There's two of them, lesser chance of trickery, and they have those horrible lights. I think they're called flashlights. Whatever they are, they hurt our sensitive eyes when they shine it directly. These souls are also young, small, most might not think they're worth the effort. I sure don't, and I'm not getting anywhere near them."  
He said it with such ominous disgust it frightened even himself. He'd never seen a human, but he feared what they were capable of. They were small and young, but so was he, and he was capable of a lot of dangerous things. Besides, dangerous or not, they weren't Pokémon or the dead or even in mourning, so they had no place here. Even by human standards he was certain this was still trespassing. If they dared vandalized any of these tombstones he'd scare them into the underworld!

The two children continued talking about the Graveyard, looking here and there for Ghost Pokémon. Ghastly started to back off, in fear of being discovered, but Eevee's curiosity got the best of her. She stepped forward a little bit and accidentally kicked a nearby rock. It rolled and bumped into the tombstone she was hiding behind, making a loud scraping noise.

The sound was small, but the humans were already on edge so they turned their flashlights in her direction, briefly blinding her eyes.

Ghastly was right, the lights were horrible!

She suddenly wished she didn't have legs after all.

Her first instinct when she was revealed was to run, but she was so stunned by the shock and lights she stayed put. Ghastly panicked and became invisible, but still watched with caution.

The young human girl cocked her head and lowered her light, making it easier for Eve to see again, "Aw, look Max!" she took a few steps towards her, "It's a baby Eevee!"

Her voice went from surprise to admiration, "It's so cute!" Eevee only blinked a few times to clear the spots in her eyes and remained still as the human known as Abby squatted down to her level, "Hello little baby Eevee!" her face was beaming, "Hello! What are you doing all alone here? Are you lost? Are you?"  
She reached her small hand to the baby Pokémon and stroked the soft brown fur on her head. Eevee flinched, and it made Ghastly tense.

_If they harm one hair on her head…_

The touch from the child was surprisingly soothing and it felt good on her fuzzy head. She even found herself leaning into the girl's hand, adoring the petting.

The other one, Max, came towards them and grabbed Abby's left shoulder, "Sis! Get away from it! These aren't like the Pokémon at the town's Pokécenter! This is a wild one! It could be dangerous! Or feral!"

Eevee started to get annoyed at being called an 'it'. She was a she. Did all humans call Pokémon it or something?

Abby turned her head to him, "Nah, it's just a baby, it can't be that dangerous. It's all alone here in the Graveyard, though. It must be lost and hungry." She turned her head back, "We should take it home with us!"

Eevee's ears stood up straight.

_Wait what? Take?_

Eevee's ears then drooped and she started to back away, frightened.

Max crossed his arms and started down at her hard, "Well, it does look a little skinny…" "See! The poor thing's all alone as is gonna starve if we don't help it!" she reached out for her, "Come on little cutie. It's okay. We're going to help you."

Eevee's ears drooped more and she started to whimper.

The child didn't seem to catch her fear and instead snatched her by her waist with both hands, "It's okay now…"

Eevee's fear turned into terror, "No! No no no!" she cried, starting to squirm. The girl didn't understand her little repetitive noises. To her and Max, it only sounded like she said, "Eve! Eevee eve!"

The child pulled her into her chest and tried to cradle the scared Pokémon, but Eevee continued to put up a fight, "Put me down! I don't wanna go! Let me go!" she screamed, but the people still didn't understand her. If anything, they seemed to be annoyed she was struggling.

Why was it that Pokémon could understand humans but they couldn't understand them?

Ghastly became infuriated at the sight. Without warning, he floated out from behind the statue, fully visible, and flew straight at Eevee and the girl, "Get your hands off of her!" he bellowed. They didn't understand him, but that didn't matter. He was pissed and it was obvious.

"Ghost!" the girl cried out of fear, but before she could drop Eevee Ghastly rammed into her side with his forehead. It wasn't too hard, as with such a force he's capable of breaking bones, but it was enough to get his point across.  
Abby fell to the ground with a yelp, releasing Eevee from her arms. The baby Pokémon scurried off from the girl and Ghastly hovered protectively in front of his friend, snarling at both humans. Eevee only stared at his back, taken aback by his sudden attack.

It was actually a little admirable.

The girl wiped some of the grass off of her and began to cry. Ghastly frowned at the sight but held his firm gaze. He didn't mean to make the human cry, but he didn't want her taking his friend.

Just then the boy picked up a nearby rock and chucked it at him, "Leave her alone!"

Ghastly concentrated and the rock fazed right through him, but that was a careless move because the rock smacked into Eevee's side. She gave a small cry and Ghastly spun around to her.  
The rock had bruised her left leg and she was licking it to ease the pain.

Ghastly gritted his sharp teeth and his eyes glowed white.

_He hurt her! The human hurt her!_

Spinning around and blinded by rage, he shouted out, "Shadow ball!" a sphere of dark, swirling energy appeared in front of the ghost and hurled right at Max. The boy barely had time to dodge the attack and roll into the ground before the sphere hit the grass, burning it in small purple embers. That would have done some pretty significant damage to small boy.  
Realizing he could have really hurt the child, Ghastly's animalistic instinct died down and his eyes stopped glowing, backing up a bit in the air.

Then he was blinded by a searing light. Screaming, Ghastly fell to the ground, rolling and trying to get away from the light. It was Abby, holding her flashlight on the Ghost Pokémon with both hands, "Get away from my big brother you meanie!" Ghastly just continued to scream at the light, trying to roll away from the harsh rays of the flashlight.

Now it was Eevee's instinct that took over. The girl didn't realize she was hurting Ghastly, she was just trying to scare him away from Max.  
Eevee didn't care. She jumped to her feet and growled at the girl. Gaining speed, she used swift attack on her, tackling her back into the ground. Her flashlight hit a nearby rock, breaking it and extinguishing the light.  
Ghastly was still lying on the ground, dazed. Eevee walked to him and nudged him with her nose, trying to stir her ghostly friend. Pain then erupted from her side when the boy kicked her hard. She flew across the air and into the grass. The wind was knocked out of her, but she wasn't seriously injured.  
Abby started yelling, "Max! Stop it! They're just babies!" "Babies that are trying to kill us!" he snapped right back.

Eevee culled into a ball, breathing painfully.

_Kill? No…no we weren't trying to kill. We just wanted you to go away. We wanted you to leave us alone…we wanted to scare you away… Why can't they understand?_

Ghastly saw the horrible human boy kick Eevee across the grass and heard the painful wheeze forcefully exiled out of her lungs.

Rage took him again.

_He hurt her again! He hurt her AGAIN!_

Eevee watched in horror as Ghastly picked himself up and floated towards the boy's face. Before the child could bat him away, the Pokémon licked his face with his long pink tongue.

Immediately, Max fell to the ground shivering and convulsing uncontrollably. Abby ran to his side and started to scream and cry.

Eevee only stared in horror at what he had just done.

_Wh-why? Why did he poison him? They didn't mean to hurt us! They were only protecting themselves! Ghastly what have you done?_

Then something surprised her. After a few frantic shakes from Abby, the boy continued to shiver but his paralysis and convulsing lessened. He was able to stand with her help. Using her as support, they fled the graveyard and off into the night to hopefully never return.

Eevee only watched them leave, but then felt something nudge her tail. She twisted around to see Ghastly hovering over her, concern in his slit eyes, "Are you okay?"

Furious, she jumped up, "How could you?" he backed away, stunned by her hostility, "How could I what?" "Paralyze him?" she was shaking she was so mad, "How could you do that? How could you try to devour his soul?"  
"I…what?" he seemed even more confused, "Relax will ya? I didn't steal any part of his soul, and the little punk had the paralysis coming! He hurt you twice!" "Yeah, after you attacked them!" she didn't know why she was suddenly so mad at his protection of her. Perhaps it was more of fear taking over, "Of course they were going to react harshly!"  
Ghastly seemed to get angry, "The girl was going to take you! I wasn't going to just sit here and let humans take my only friend away from me! What else was I supposed to do?"  
Eevee bit her lip. She didn't have an answer for him, so he continued, "Since you're so overwhelmed with concern, the boy will be fine. My poison isn't very toxic because of my evolve form and age. It just caused minor paralysis, and when I choose it I can steal souls that way. A ghost can choose when to kill, and I chose not to."  
"But are you saying you would have?" Eevee asked, becoming a little afraid of him. He was more powerful and dangerous than she realized.

Ghastly didn't answer her this time and looked away, but his gaze said it all.

If they had done greater harm to either of them, he would have killed.

When he floated towards her to talk more, Eevee backed away with more fear than she should have. He could kill. Her ghostly friend not only could have killed, but would have.

This hurt Ghastly and he started to float away, "Y-you're afraid of me? Just like all the others? But I was trying to pr-protect you!" tears started to form in his large eyes; something she didn't think a ghost was capable of, "Y-you're no different! You're just like everyone else! Y-you're just a-a stupid little crybaby!" His clear tears rolled down his face and hit the grass. They didn't turn into mist or dissolve, but instead stayed. They were real actual tears.

Oh, how ironic it was, calling her a crybaby even though he was the one crying. Even so, the insult hurt. It didn't hurt as much as what she had done to him, "Ghastly, no wait-"

"Shut up!" he hissed, "Just go away! Go away and don't ever come back here!" He started to disappear from sight, fading away into invisibility. She started to follow after him, "But I-"

"Come back again and I'll eat your soul!" he threatened. His expression was too full of sorrow for her to read if he meant it or not.  
The tone in his voice only scared her and made her back away. He followed up on that fear by screaming, "**GO!**" and he disappeared from sight completely.

His bellowing voice caused her to scream and run away from him. She ran through the twisting leaves and grass of the cemetery, past the tombstones she'd known so well, and through the metal gates.

Tears were swelling in her own eyes, and even as she passed the trees that lead into the forest, Eevee could still hear the mournful wails and sobs of the ghost she left behind.

* * *

_Sorry, not a very happy Chapter this one. So, what do you think? Will Ghastly make true on his threat and devour her soul if she comes back? Will Eevee even want to come back? Read and Review!_


	4. Discovery

_Chapter 4: Discovery_

Weeks had passed since that night, but it felt like years. In that time, Eevee had sunk into deep depression. The sadness was greater than it was when she didn't have any friends. Losing her only friend for the past few months was crippling, and it hurt so much. It hurt deeper than a Beedrill's needle stab through the heart.

Today, she was sitting in the middle of the clearing while some of the other children played. Her head hung low and her ears were drooping down. They didn't seem to notice or care about her sadness, but the grownups did and they started to talk.

She didn't care. They could talk all they wanted. Nothing they said would do anything to repair her shattered soul.

Even her mother could do nothing to comfort her broken daughter. Espeon walked to her child and pulled her into her side, "Eevee, please. You've been like this for weeks now. You say it's nothing, but I know it's not. Why don't you tell me what's wrong?"

Eevee only nuzzled into her mother's pink fur, but said nothing.

She sighed, getting a little frustrated. Eevee was always a timid but stubborn child. If she had a secret, she wasn't going to tell it easily. It was something she defiantly got from her father.  
That stubborn Vaporeon…

Finally, Espeon gently asked, "Does this have to do with your secret little friend?" Espeon didn't know about Eevee sneaking away at night, but she knew she had a friend after her daughter had been happier for the past few months.  
If she had to guess, Eevee and this friend of hers must have had a bad fight.

The baby didn't look up in shock or give a tearful confession. Instead, she slumped her head down more and pulled away from her mother, going to the river to be alone.

Espeon watched the baby leave and sighed, knowing full well what she was going to go do.

Eevee walked into the large meadow that held the river. Nearby, a few water-types were playing around in the water, having great fun with their friends. Her dim brown eyes pulled away from the happy sight and she continued on, leaning over and dragging her feet on the grass. She went a little ways from the river and into another small clearing.

She soon reached what she came there for, a Pecha Berry tree. It was full grown now, and today was the first day the tree had finally started to show fruit.

A week before their fight, Eevee had found out that Ghastly had a weakness for Pecha berries. He had scared a Treekco once when he was passing through the Graveyard. He had an arm full of them, but he only dropped one when he fled from Ghastly's prank. The 'strange sweet pink fruits' were the best thing he's ever had, and he'd do anything to have another.  
It took a while, but she managed to finally find some Pecha seeds and got permission from her mother to plant a tree nearby.  
When it grew, she wanted to show Ghastly and give him one as a gift.

She was going to tell him sooner, as it only took about 12 hours for the tree to grow up, but for some reason no fruit had grown on it until today.

Eevee looked up to the plump, pink fruits that hung from the tree's branches. Only 5 grew at a time, so they were rarely ripe. This made each one a delicacy.

She didn't care. She looks at the tree now and sees it as a painful reminder of her lost friend. How she wished she was a Flareon so she could just burn it down!  
Angry, as if she was blaming the tree for her sadness, she walked to the trunk and kicked it with her back legs as hard as she could. It did barely anything, of course. It just shook it a bit, and that was a miracle by itself.  
Furious at her size, she sat right down and curled her tail around her, sulking. She really did want to go back and apologize. Ghastly was scary, but he really was just truing to protect her. He didn't mean anyone any harm, and if he hadn't done anything she would probably be cooped up in some human's home right now.

Still, she was afraid to go back. Would he really eat her soul? Was that just said out of sorrow and spite?

_He is a ghost, Eve. What makes you think he wouldn't-_

She stopped in her thought process.

Eve.

The knick name he had given her hurt for the first time. She wanted to go back, she really did, but what would happen? What if he wasn't lying?

_What if he was?_

She frowned. How she hated internal conflict.

Suddenly, something plopped hard into the top of her head and bounced into the grass, "Ow!" Grumbling and rubbing her head, she looked to her side and had to do a double take.

A Pecha Berry had fallen from the tree somehow. It wasn't just any Pecha Berry, but a purple one. She was stunned. She'd never heard of a purple Pecha Berry, they were always pink. This must have been some kind of color mutation. She sniffed it a few times to make sure it wasn't foul, but it smelled just as fresh as any fruit.

She looked up to the branches of the tree to see what would have caused it to fall, but nothing was out of the ordinary.

Eevee looked back to the berry and pondered ti for a few minutes. If there was such a thing as fate, this had to be it.

Deciding in that moment what she had to do, she picked up the fruit with her teeth and left to go hide it in her tree.  
She would have to wait until nightfall…

When the sun set, Eve made her way as briskly as she could to the Graveyard. When she reached the metal gates, she wiggled through them carefully to keep herself from biting the fruit in half.

Once she was in, she ran to the Bell Tower with urgency in her step. Now that she was no longer welcome, she could be snatched at any second by a hungry ghost.  
She felt the eyes on her follow, but disappear when she reached the tower. To her surprise, the door was opened slightly. Of all the times for it to be shut, it should be shut now.

The baby Pokémon warily nudged the creaky door open and ascended up the stone stairway. Once she reached the top that held the bell, she looked all around.

There was no sign of Ghastly.

She waited several tense minutes, but he never showed himself.

Sighing, Eevee placed the purple Pecha Berry on the stone floor and spoke with sadness, "Ghastly, I don't know if you can hear me, but…I brought you something. A special purple Pecha Berry I grew myself." She pushed it forward with her paw, "I know you love them, and how much you've wanted one again. The tree I grew was supposed to be our special tree, a sign of friendship. Now, I can't even look at it without thinking about what I said to you."  
She moved her head around, but still no sign of him, "For whatever it's worth, if you'll listen, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I was afraid of you. I know you were only trying to protect me, and I should have trusted you more. I'm sure my own mommy would have killed to protect me if she had to. Still, I'm really sorry. I still think you're scary, but I'm not afraid of you. You're still my friend."

She waited for a noise, a chill, any kind of disturbance, but nothing happened.

She hung her head and started to turn around, the hole in her heart becoming wider. She'd never play with him again.

Once she turned to go down the stairs, she almost jumped out of her fur. Ghastly was floating there, sorrow in his teary eyes.  
She only jumped because it was sudden, but then she looked upon him without fear.

This could go south any second. He could attack her and eat her soul. Even so, she wanted him to know she wasn't afraid of him.

Ghastly didn't look very good. The purple haze around him was dim and flowed slowly. His eyes were sunken in and puffy, as if he had been crying a lot. He was hanging low above her, like if he was hanging his head if he had a neck.

The seconds of silence that passed were agonizing, but she waited with patience.

Finally, he spoke quietly, "I told you not to come here again." His voice wasn't threatening and his words weren't venomous. Instead, it was a sad moan, "I told you I would eat your soul. I did, right? You came here anyway." he frowned, looking ashamed.  
He could tell by Eevee's appearance she missed him just as much as he missed her, "But…I was just mad. I didn't mean it, really. I wanted to come track you down, Eve, and say sorry. But, I lost my nerve, as cowardly as it sounds. I…I knew you'd come back. I left the door open every night since we fought. Eve, I'm sorry."  
He hovered down closer to her, "But, as for you, you mean it? You aren't afraid of me anymore?" his eyes looked to the fruit behind her, "Honest and for truly?"

She weakly smiled at him, "Yes, honest and for truly. You're too nice to mean me any harm."

He smiled back, something he hadn't done since she left, "Hey come on, I am still scary though. It's my job. Still, I'm glad at least _you_ won't be afraid." His smile stretched, "Friends?"

"Friends." She happily agreed.

He nodded and floated up to her, nuzzling his head into her side. The affection was sudden and shocked her for a second, but she leaned into him and nuzzled back.

Ghastly backed away and moved to the Pecha Berry, "Now, I can't possibly eat this all by myself." He looked to her, "Wanna split it?"

She shook her head, "No thanks, I grew it for you."

"I insist!" he moved down and bit the fruit in half, leaving the rest for her.

He did a roll in the air out of pleasure, "Oh wow! These really are the best fruits ever!" he laughed, and Eevee could feel the crushing sadness in her chest fade away at hearing him laugh again.

He swallowed the berry and smiled, "Thank you. You should show me the tree sometime."

"Sure, I can show you tomorrow." Eevee agreed, "I think you'll like it. It's really pretty." She bent down and scooped the fruit up into her mouth and ate it. Ghastly was right.  
Pecha Berries really were great!

Once she finished, Ghastly flew up to her face, "Hey, now that you're back do you wanna go play some tag?"

She was about to say yes when Ghastly's expression became ominous and he looked out of the Bell Tower, "There's another intruder here!"

Eevee's stomach dropped, "What? The humans are back?"

"No." he looked to her, confused, "The living one here isn't human, and it feels…familiar. Kinda like if it was you."  
Eevee cocked her head to the side, not sure what if could be.

Suddenly, "Eevee? Eevee are you here?"

She gulped, recognizing the voice immediately. Ghastly looked down at the intruder at the base of the tower and growled, "Who is that? What's she doing here? We should scare her."

"No wait!" Eevee ran in front of him, "We can't prank her! She's my mom! Espeon!" his brow furrowed and he looked back down to the Pokémon below them.

The Eeveeloution, or Espeon, was tall and slender, with fine pink fur, ears like Eevee's, and little tufts of fur on her cheeks. She had a long thin tail that slit down the end into two tails. Her eyes were purple and the pupils glowed white, and she had a unique red jewel in the center of her forehead.

Everything about her implied the elegant physique of any psychic Pokémon.

Though she didn't look like Eevee, she had certain similarities that distinguished her. The way she twitched her nose or leaned on her paws gave her away as his young friend's mother.

Espeon called out again, "Don't you try to hide young lady! I sense your presence! I know you're in there so come out!" she sounded firm, but not mad. Eve couldn't remain hidden.  
She was her mother, how could she disobey?

Eevee whispered to Ghastly, "Stay quiet while I go talk to her. She doesn't know about us exactly, so you might spook her."

She started to go downstairs, but he flew in front of her, "No!" he insisted, "If you go with her I might not see you again! We just repaired our friendship after weeks of separation! Please don't go away again!"

He was so sincere it broke her heart, and though she loved her mama she found it hard to believe she could ever leave like that again.  
Taking a deep breath, she said calmly, "I'll deal with it. Don't worry, I won't leave you. Trust me." She nuzzled him in between the eyes with her nose and walked past him down the stairs. He watched her disappear down the dark stairway with fear of being alone again.

Espeon was looking around the tower and was about to go in when Eevee peaked through the crack of the door, "I'm here mama."

Instead of looking angry, she looked relieved, "Eevee, thank goodness." The baby walked to her and Espeon immediately pulled her into her chest with her arm, "I was worried one of the spirits here could have taken you. What on earth are you doing here? Didn't I tell you not to come into the Zoryn Cemetery?"  
"I'm sorry mama." She looked to her face, "I was dared to months ago and…"

"Enough explanation." She looked around, "Now, where is your friend?"

Eevee looked surprised, and Espeon casually told her, "Sweetheart, I know your fear of the dark, and I know there's no way you would have ever stayed here on your own. If this has been going on for a long time, you've had to be meeting someone here. So, who is it? Please tell me you haven't been coming here for an imaginary friend."  
Eevee swiftly shook her head, "No, no nothing like that. He's real mom, but he's kinda…scary."

Espeon sighed, "Eevee, I've seen all sorts of sea creatures when your father and I went exploring. I think I can handle it." Espeon nudged her cheek, "Go on, you can tell him to come out."

Eevee smiled, glad her mother was so understanding. She turned in her arm to the door and could see the slightest hint of his big eyes showing through, watching them. Eve nodded in his direction, "He's there, behind the door. Like I said mom he's scary, but he won't hurt you."

"Alright." Espeon let Eevee go and started to walk slowly towards the partially open door. Ghastly flinched in the darkness, knowing full well though ghost-types were one of the few that could defeat a psychic type, a powerful one like her could easily destroy him.

Espeon could see the wide eyes behind the door and bent her neck down to look at him, "Come on out." She said very gently, "Don't be shy little one. I won't harm you. I promise."

Eevee tensed, unsure how Ghastly would react to her mother.

To her relief, the door creaked open slowly and Ghastly floated out, revealing himself in the moonlight. At first, Espeon was surprised and took a step backwards from the young ghost. She had a suspicion of a ghost being involved very since she came to the graveyard, but it still caught her off guard.  
If it wasn't for the tense situation, Eevee would have laughed at Ghastly's expression. He looked positively intimidated by her presence.

Her eyes went from shock to tenderness, "Well now, you're the little boy my daughter's been sneaking off with at night? How sweet." She turned her elegant head back to Eve, "Never did I dream your first best friend would be a ghost."

Eevee nodded her head and walked up next to him, "He's really nice mama. He cheered me up and saved me from humans. We've been playing every night."

"That explains why you were so tired in the morning." She said with a frown, "And humans? Well, I'm glad you both are alright, but you shouldn't have run off without my permission Eevee."

She hung her head, "I'm sorry. It's just, I didn't know how you'd react to a Pokémon psychics are supposed to fight…"

"Though we are one of the few that has a chance at destroying ghost-types, it's not our destiny or purpose, child." Espeon gently explained, looking to them both, "We choose to either make it that way or not. To me it wouldn't matter if a Pokémon was a ghost or not. Even if your father was a ghost, does that mean I would have loved him less? No." her eyes seemed to bore through Ghastly, and it made him a little nervous. Even so, her tone was so gentle it kept him calm.  
Espeon played on that calm aura by gently continuing, "I go for personality when I choose to be around a Pokémon or to let them play with my daughter. I trust your judgment Eevee, and if this boy wanted to hurt you he certainly would have already. I sense the bond between you two is strong, so I will allow this friendship."

Eevee and Ghastly both let out the breaths they were holding, relieved they wouldn't be separated.

She smiled at them, brightening the mood further, "One thing I have to know is your name, child. Who are you?"

Ghastly looked back to her and spoke for the first time since he revealed himself, "Ghastly, ma'am."

"Ghastly? Hmmn, that's something you aren't." she smiled again, "Well Ghastly, it's nice to meet you. Thank you for taking care of my daughter so well. She really needed a friend. You have no idea how much it means to me to see her happy."

He grinned and looked to the grass, embarrassed by the praise.

Eevee giggled and nudged him with her shoulder, "Mommy, we were going to play tag a minute ago. Is it okay? I promise we'll be careful."

Espeon laughed and sat down, "Alright, but be wary. Just because I'll let you play with a ghost doesn't mean I want you to become one."

"Thank you!" Eevee excitedly squealed, overwhelmed with happiness at the thought of playing again. Pulled completely out of her depression, she nudged Ghastly again and yelled, "Tag! You're it!"  
She ran off into the east side of the Cemetery, with Ghastly looking back, "Hey! No fair! You got a head start!" completely oblivious to Espeon in front of him, he sped off after her.

Espeon watched with amusement as the two children chased each other around the tombstones. She was amazed at her child's ability to make friends with a Ghost Pokémon. Eevee was so shy and meek; she couldn't believe she had it in her.

Eevee had more fire than she thought, and she knew the baby would grow up to be a powerful Eeveeloution someday.

* * *

_lol, sorry these chapters are tending to drag with all this buildup and stuff, but I promise the next one will be more eventful. :D_


	5. Prey

_Sorry this Chapter is SUPER short, but it's still very important and I thought it was best to leave this one on a cliffhanger.  
_

* * *

_Chapter 5: Prey_

"Awk!"

"Come on Ghastly! You're pinned! You gotta give up!"

"N-Never!"

The ghost Pokémon wiggled underneath his friend's weight, smearing dirt all over his face, but she didn't budge. Eevee only laughed, "You're just making it harder on yourself!"  
"Funny!" he spat out some dirt, "I was going to say the same thing to you!" Eevee gasped when she felt him turn to purple mist underneath her and gave away. She plopped into the grass, and Ghastly reappeared over her and shoved himself into her back, pinning her to her chest, "Got ya!"

She struggled but to no avail, "No fair! You cheated!"

He only laughed, amused beyond belief, "I'm the master of pranks! I always cheat!"

Eevee huffed and rested her chin on her paws, annoyed. Over the years, Ghastly had gotten better at physical fazing, and it was just a cheap shot. They had upgraded from playing tag to wresting, and Ghastly never lost despite having no arms or legs.

Another laugh echoed through the dark meadow. The two teenage Pokémon looked up from their position under the Pecha tree to Espeon, smiling, "Hey you two." She walked towards them, "I see you still can't beat him, huh sweetie?"

Eevee whined, "Ma! It's only cause he cheats!"

Ghastly mischievously grinned, "Of course I won! I am the masta!" he floated off of Eevee, but she only tackled him again.  
She fazed through him instantly and smacked her face into the grass. She growled and yelled a muffled, "Damn it Ghastly!"

He howled in laughter and hid up in the Pecha Berry tree's branches, out of her reach.

Espeon simply watched the two happily. They had both grown so much since they were babies. Double in size and power, not to mention they had become nearly inseparable. It had been 10 years since they met. Eevee was 14, and Ghastly was 16.

If Vaporeon could see her now, he would be so proud how his little girl has grown. She still has yet to evolve though. Eevee would have to venture off on her own to do that. Maybe she'll go off with Ghastly on adventures together, trying to discover their evolve forms.

She could defiantly see that happening.

Espeon would be lying if she said she wasn't apprehensive about Ghastly the first time they met, but she had grown to like him over the years. He was very trustworthy, and despite his need to goof off he could be very responsible at times.

She had fully accepted their friendship. The other Pokémon in the woods however were a little harder to win over.

Ghastly started visiting Eevee in the woods. The horror of the first night when he decided to show up in their burrow kept Espeon up for a few nights, and a few others as well. He started coming only at night to play with Eevee under the Pecha Berry tree.  
Other Pokémon avoided them, but they didn't seem to care at all.

"Now kids." She walked around them, "Don't roughhouse too loudly. You know most of us have to sleep at this hour." Espeon looked up into the tree, "And do I really have to ask how Mr. Slowbro's rock collection got in the trees?"  
Ghastly gave her a sheepish smile, "Uh, well we were bored."  
"Uh huh." Espeon smiled. She had gotten used to their mischief, but was surprised that neither of them tried to prank her.

"Well, keep it down. Last thing we need is more animosity." Espeon said with a hint of amusement. Ghastly shifted a bit in the branches, "Well, tomorrow you guys can come visit me in the Cemetery instead, Miss Espeon. I've come here enough; it's time to give the others a little breather."

"Okay, we can do that. Right Eevee?" she looked to her daughter, who had by now given up on trying to get Ghastly out of the tree and was sitting on the grass, "Yeah, I don't mind."

"Then it's settled." Espeon walked away from the two, back to the burrow, "I'll be going to sleep now. I've been staying up all night."

When she was gone, Ghastly floated back down to Eevee and lowered himself so that he was on the ground next to her. He rested his round body against the tree, watching as Espeon left, "I like your mom. She's nice and smells like berries." He grinned, "And pretty too!"

"Ew man! Cut it out." She gave him a playful shove, "This is my mom we're talking about."

"Must be nice having a mom." He said, ignoring her statement, "So gentle and caring, but, you know Eve, there was something I was always curious about. Any kid has to have two parents, a mom and a dad, so where's your dad? Is he away or something? In all the years I've known you, you never told me about him."  
When he looked to her, Eevee's shoulders were hunched and sadness was across her face. He straighed up, "Oh no, did I say something wrong? I didn't mean it! Honest and for truly!"

That made Eevee smile. Would he ever outgrow that phase?

"No Ghastly, it's not that." She turned to face him, her eyes shiny, "You didn't know, and I'm surprised you didn't ask sooner with how nosey you are." She frowned, "You see, yes, I did have a dad when I was very young. He was a Vaporeon, the water-type Eeveeloution. I only knew him for a few years, but from what my mother has told me and I remember of him, he was very kind and brave. I know that he loved me very much."

Ghastly looked down a bit, "What happened to him?"

Eevee dipped her head, "He was killed one night. I was on the beach with my parents, playing in the sand. Then I got away from my parents and fell off of a nearby rock cliff. I didn't know how to swim yet, so I screamed for help before I sank. It was so dark and cold. I struggled and kicked my legs in the salty water, but nothing worked, I just kept sinking deeper into the ocean. I couldn't breathe, and it was just darkness. I knew I was going to die." She shivered, the memory coming back, "Then I remember seeing my father swim down and pull me from the water. I was wet and cold, but otherwise unharmed. Everything was fine, until a Gyaradosexploded out of the sea."  
She pawed the ground a bit, "We must have accidentally stumbled onto his territory or something because he was ready to kill. My dad tried to hold him off to protect my mom and I. He put up a good fight, but then the Gyarados used Hyper Beam and…" she stopped, sucking in a breath to keep from crying.

Ghastly sat in silence, not knowing what to say. No wonder Eevee used to be so afraid of the dark and night time. She must be apprehensive about the ocean too. It was amazing she had been able to heal as much as she had after such a tragedy.

Slowly, her voice shaking, she continued, "After that, we moved from the ocean to here. Mom thought it'd help me, and luckily it did." She darted her eyes to him, "I made a friend."

He smiled, admiring her brown eyes. How envious he was of them, "I'm so sorry Eevee. I didn't realize that was such a touchy matter."

Eevee gave a solemn nod, "It's okay, I'm just glad I got to finally tell someone."  
Slowly, she looked up to the brightening sky, "You should get going. It will be dawn soon and I'm exhausted." She stood and stretched, "Thanks for listening."

The suns interruption was sudden, but he felt it was the right time to break away from the subject, "Anytime buddy." He floated up and shook himself a bit, "But you know, tonight I'm going to still kick your butt in wresting again!"

"Will not!" Eevee yelled after him as he left.

Despite her renewed sadness, she felt content in telling him. It was surprising, she wasn't one to tell secrets easily.

* * *

Espeon and Eevee were walking to the forest that night, on their way to meet Ghastly in the Cemetery. Normally, Espeon left after she accompanied Eevee to the graveyard, but she enjoyed making short conversation to them both.

"I'm telling you, I'll beat him this time!" Eevee insisted, making her mother chuckle.

As they walked, there was something odd about tonight. The forest was strangely kind of scary, still even. Eevee had a chill that ran up her spine a few times to suggest something ominous was on the rise.  
Her mother must have sensed the danger too because she started glancing around. She tried to do it subtly to not alert Eevee, but the teenager was already aware of the uncomfortable feeling.

They continued walking through the dark night, when a clap of thunder caused them to jump. Eevee looked to the night sky and saw the shrouded clouds turn dark. They had been dark for a while now, but she didn't think it'd rain this soon.  
Soon after the thunder, lightning lit up the sky.

Her mother nudged her, "Come on, let's not linger. We must hurry to the bell tower and get away from this storm."  
Eevee agreed and they both quickened their pace along the grass path.

When they were almost to the exit, movement in a nearby bush caught Espeon's attention. She had felt something following them for a while now, and finally it was going to show itself.

She turned to the bush and hunched down, growling. Eevee watched her with concern, "Mom?"

The two Pokémon watched as a very large figure pulled itself out of the bush, his footsteps thudding the ground loudly.

Eevee felt her heart stop at the sight of the creature before them, "Oh no…" she muttered.

The large Pokémon stood a good height above the smaller types. He was purple and had rock hard, plated skin. Large spikes ran along his spine and under fangs jutted out of his powerful jaws. A huge, bone crushing tail coiled in and out behind him. His muscular legs had pointed white hooves for feet, and his arms held three claws for hands. His ears were oval shaped and green on the inside, and the poisonous sharp horn in the middle of his head shined in the dim light. His triangle shaped eyes glared at them viciously as he opened his mouth into a drooling sneer, revealing his sharp sets of teeth. Five on each side of his mouth lined his lips.

They both knew what kind of Pokémon he was.

A Nidoking.

Espeon snarled as he eyed them both. She knew he hadn't followed them out of territorial instinct.

He was hungry.

Then it started to rain…


	6. Red Rain

_Warning!  
_

_Before you read this, note this is part of the reason I gave this story a T rating. This Chapter is pretty violent, but don't worry. It's not like Saw or anything. Just kinda imagine if the show was more for an older audience and actually had some blood in it. Yeah...  
_

_That's what it's like.  
_

* * *

_Chapter 6: Red Rain_

Eevee and Espeon's fur drooped when it soaked up the water, but neither Pokémon could care less.

The Nidoking took a step towards them, not saying anything. What was there to say to a meal?

This was bad, really bad. Of all the rotten luck, they just HAD to stumble across a Nidoking in the middle of his nocturnal hunting!  
Nidokings were aggressive, violent, and very territorial. Worst of all, meat eaters, and they love to munch on tiny Pokémon. Eevee had only seen them at a distance here and there, but to see such a Pokémon up close was terrifying.  
He was even scarier than Ghastly.

When he got closer, Espeon gave him a warning growl, the red jewel on her head starting to glow, "Leave." She snarled. Her voice was low and threatening, the most intimidating Eevee has ever heard.

The Nidoking stopped in his pace and stood there, weighing his options. After a minute of contemplation, his sneer broadened, "Are you really going to try and put up a fight? Look, you're obviously powerful and I'm not in the mood for bruises, so I'll make a deal. It'll be easier and far less painful for both of us if you just turn around and leave the small one here."

His preditorial eyes darted to Eevee, they were slitted and shallow.  
She flinched under his look and cowered in fear behind her mother. Espeon increased the hostility in her gaze, "I'm not going to leave and let you turn my daughter into a midnight snack!"

Nidoking cocked his head a bit and chuckled, "Figures you little rat-things are related. Once last chance for you to leave with your spine intact."

Espeon bared her teeth at him, as unintimidating as they were, "You must be stupider than you look. I'll give YOU one last chance to back off before I realign YOUR spine, you awful brute!"

He snarled and hunched over, thumping his powerful tail a few times. Without warning, he charged at Espeon, using Horn Drill. Even though her fine fur was wet, it didn't affect the coat's sensitive sensing abilities and her double edged tail started to twitch in anticipation of danger.

The psychic Pokémon jumped to the side and nudged Eevee with her. Both rolled out of the way in time for him to miss and slam into a nearby tree.  
While he was distracted, Espeon pushed Eevee aside, "Get out of the way! Now!" The teenager didn't argue and ran behind a nearby rock and out of the battlefield.

The rain had increased in its amount and turned from a light drizzle into a thick shower.

Yanking his horn and face out of the tree trunk, Nidoking turned around and snarled. His nose and bottom lip were bleeding pretty badly.

Espeon had to smirk to herself. Nidokings were never very bright. Still, it wouldn't take a lot of brains to snap her in half if he got his claws on her.

_Play and dodge, play and dodge._

She thought over and over to herself when they started circling each other in the middle of the grassy path.

He was, of course, the first to attack her. He lunged at her again but she rolled out of the way after she sensed his attack. Growling in frustration, he continued to swing his arms and tail at her, trying to knocked her down or stun her, but Espeon was too swift and dodged very single attack like she planned. Eevee watched as the flashes of lightning above them washed out their figures in white light while the thunder drowned out their snarls.

Having enough, Nidoking ran full force at her with his arms outstretched this time, stomping the whole way. Espeon's sensitive tail tingled again as predicted his rash actions and swiftly jumped out of the way and out of his vision. He swung his arms into self hug as a result of her dodge and became momentarily confused.  
In the brief opening, Espeon took advantage of it by using a Psybeam. The jewel on her head glowed red and shot a flashing beam of light at the Nidoking. The poisonous Pokémon gasped as he was suddenly disoriented by her attack, more confused than before. Trying to gather his bearings, Nidoking stumbled around with his claws against his face to rub his eyes.  
He cried out in surprise when Espeon used Tail Whip against him, wrapping her tail against his right stubby leg and yanking it from underneath him in a swift whip. She was stronger physically than he predicted and he tumbled to the ground, landing on his knees and claws.  
He was breathing heavily to try to keep from throwing up from the dizzying surroundings.

He knew now it was probably a very stupid move to attack an Espeon, especially one determined on protecting her offspring. It didn't mean he was going to back down easily.

The forest around him was still spinning and he saw spots, but his hearing came back once his ears stopped ringing. He could once again hear the rapid tapping of the rain and the movement of Espeon's nimble feet against the grass. His ears twitched as he heard her approach and was standing not too far to his left.  
He gripped the grass with his claws and waited patiently.

"Give up?" he heard her ask, and that was all he needed. The fool just gave her position away.

He dipped his head a bit and gritted his teeth, waiting for the disorientation to subside. Believing he didn't hear her, Espeon inched a little closer and said louder, "I said do you give up?"

Eevee watched in fear from behind a nearby tree at her mother staring the Nidoking down. She knew that Espeon was just trying to make sure that he wouldn't bother them again.

Just then, the forest stilled and he could see again.

Nidoking smirked and Espeon could sense that he was about to move. As she predicted he jumped up and lunged at her, using his legs to propel him in her direction. She jumped backwards to dodge him again, but she miscalculated his speed and distance.  
In an instant, he wrapped his arms around her in a powerful bear hug. Espeon gave a loud painful wheeze as all the air was forced from her lungs.  
He crushed her chest against his plated one, locking her in place with his arms. Espeon tipped her head back and tried to breathe, but every time she tried to take a breath he only squeezed her tighter against him with his arms to Eevee's horror.  
He laughed loudly over her desperate attempts for air, "What's the matter? Too tight?" Espeon couldn't even answer him as she struggled to take a breath. He squeezed even tighter and caused her to arch her back painfully.  
Espeon knew she was in trouble. If she didn't get out of his grasp she'd be snapped in two. Kicking and squirming, she fought to wiggle free of his death lock. It did no good and only made her situation worse because he increased the pressure even more. A creak in her back caused pain to shoot through her body and stop her struggles. Out of energy, a blue hue started to develop over her face as she started to slowly suffocate.

Eevee watched her mother squirm and eventually slow in her movement against him. No longer able to take any more, the young Pokémon screamed and launched herself at the two grownups, "Stop it!" Espeon tilted her head to Eevee in a weak protest to her attack, but Nidoking turned and snarled at the charging youngling.  
Twisting around, he swung his huge tail in the air and coiled it around her small body. Eevee let out a cry of surprise as he locked her in place and lifted her into the air. Snapping his tail to the left, he let go and flinged Eevee through the air into a nearby tree trunk.  
Eve fell to the grass, battered very badly and slipping into slight unconsciousness.

In his momentary distraction, he loosened his grip on Espeon just enough for her to get a few breaths in. Once she got some slight strength back, she positioned her head in front of Nidoking's face. When he turned back to her his snout bumped her nose, causing his eyes to widen in surprise. Looking directly into his eyes, Espeon's own purple eyes started to glow white and she blinded him with a Psychic attack. He cried out and released her, stumbling back from the pain in his forehead.

Espeon fell to the ground in a slump, taking in deep grateful gasps of air.

He shook his head a few times and looked down at her, really pissed now. Espeon had no time to recover as Nidoking stomped towards her and threw his hands out to grab the Eeveelution. Though her muscles and bones protested, she forced herself to jump to her feet and get away from him. He missed and smacked both hands into the grass where she previously was.  
Espeon tried to circle to his side and use Tackle on him, but Nidoking slammed his tail into the ground, causing a large tremor that shook the trees around them all. The tremor caught her off guard and caused her to stumble to the right clumsily.

He took his chance and spun around, swinging his tail to the left and catching her in it. Espeon yelled loudly as his muscular, platted tail wrapped around her waist and squeezed her tight like a squeak toy. The force was much greater than his arms and caused several cracks and snaps throughout her form. Once again, air was forced out of her, but he didn't stop there.  
Swinging her around, he brought Espeon close to his chest and opened his mouth, like a snake ready to swallow his prey. He lowered his head, positioning his bone munching teeth just above her throat.  
Espeon panicked and only managed to jerk her body to the right. This caused him to not bite down on her neck but instead her shoulder.

Espeon wailed as his teeth dug into her right shoulder, her blood streaming down her arm and turning runny because of the rain. He was doing it to stun her and make her bleed out, and it was working.

Espeon's wails caused Eevee to snap back to her senses and look back at the fighting Pokémon. She saw him biting into her mother's shoulder, and knew if she didn't do something he'd snap the bone, "Mom!" she struggled to her feet and wobbled a bit. She was more hurt than she thought and felt weak.

Still, she made herself stand up straight and ran to the two once again. Nidoking didn't notice her return and continued to try and stun his desperate prey.

Eevee positioned herself and jump onto Nidoking's neck. She latched herself onto his hard skin and held on as tightly as her tiny paws would let her.

Nidoking was surprised and released his teeth from Espeon's shoulder, but kept his grip on her with his tail. Eevee sickened when she could clearly see her mother's blood on his lips. Opening her mouth as wide as she could, she bit down on the space between his head and shoulder, biting as hard as she could. Unfortunately, it was like biting a rock and hurt her herbivorous teeth. She hadn't even penetrated the skin.  
The pressure was enough to annoy him though and he finally released Espeon from his tail. Espeon rolled onto the wet grass, unmoving and a large chunk missing from her shoulder. Blood from her devastating wound flowed into the grass thanks to the rain.

Infuriated that Eevee had once again interfered; Nidoking snatched her with his claws and ripped her off of his neck and threw her to the ground.

She rolled until she faced the sky to see the towering figure of the Nidoking over her. He glared at her hungrily and lifted his foot to smash her into paste, but she rolled out of the way just in time.

Ultimately in rage, he turned to the small Eevee cowering in a feeble protective stance before her wounded mother. She was the only thing separating the two from each other.

Seeing red, the larger Pokémon huffed and charged at her, horn first. He was determined not to miss this time.

Eevee stumbled back, too shocked to move but too determined to back down.

In that instant, she was pulled backwards by an unknown force and knocked to her back. She hit the ground, and not long after heard the sickening **_shunk _**of something getting impaled.

She knew that Nidoking hit his target.

For a moment, she believed she was in so much shock and pain she didn't feel the impalement. Only when she looked back to face him did she see the terrible truth.

Espeon had somehow moved in front of her to block Eevee from Nidoking's attack. Using her own body as a shield, she had been skewered by his poisonous horn through the chest.

Eevee let out a loud scream as he lifted Espeon off the ground and flung his body to the side, throwing her off and back into the grass.  
Wheezing in pain, Espeon had no strength left. The fight was finally kicked out of her.

Roaring in victory, Nidoking turned to the horrified and sobbing Eevee. She looked up at him in cold fear. He growled, "You're next."

Espeon could only do a pathetic whine as he stomped towards her daughter. Eve tried to scurry away, but he was too fast for her and snatched her in both of his claws. She tried to break free, but he was so strong. All it did was cause her to receive a good gash over her left eyebrow, staingin her brown fur.  
He held her over his head and high into the air, ready to body slam her into the ground with crushing force.

Now, she doesn't know now what caused her to react next, whether it was fear, adrenaline, or rage to lash out in that instant.  
Using the tiny claws she did have, she dug them deep into his right eye and bobbed it out.

Howling in horrible pain, he dropped her and stumbled around, gripping his blinded eye. Her paws now covered in blood, Eevee ran from the screaming Pokémon and to the fatally wounded Espeon.

Miraculously, Espeon was already lifting herself up from the ground and stumbling towards her. Even with a hole through her chest, her only thought in her fleeting mind was to keep Eevee safe.

As fast as they could manage, they fled down the path towards the graveyard, leaving the wounded Nidoking behind and escaping at last.

* * *

After several minutes, they finally reached the edge of the forest that lead to the Cemetery. Adrenaline had finally passed for the drenched Pokémon, and once Espeon knew Eevee was safe she gave a final gasp of strength and collapsed next to her.  
Too weak to move or use her healing ability, Morning Sun, her mother just laid there and wheezed desperate breaths. Even if the horn drill wasn't lethal, the poison from the Nidoking's horn would have finished her off anyway.

Eevee knelt to her mother and nudged her head with hers, smearing the blood running down her face onto hers, "Mom! Come on we gotta go! We'll get you help! We-we'll do s-something!"

Espeon weakly smiled underneath her child's terrified gaze and continued smiling as her breathing slowed.

Then…she was gone…

Eevee was silent for several seconds, the rain tapping against her head.

Finally, she tilted her head back and screamed.

* * *

Ghastly waited in his Bell Tower and looked onto the stormy graveyard with his brow furrowed. Something wasn't right. They should have been here an hour ago, and the storm was getting pretty bad. Maybe they got lost somehow? As ridiculous as that possibility was, he couldn't help but think it when they still didn't show up.

Not long after considering to look for them, a wave of cold hit him, sending violent chills through his amorphous body.  
He fluttered in the air, gasping and trying to regain his composure by closing his eyes.

He knew what that awful feeling was. It was the familiar feeling of a soul leaving this world to the next, far beyond the spirit realm. Though he's only felt this a few times in his life, once that happened to you it was hard to forget.  
He suddenly felt nauseous. He's never felt a life passing this close to the graveyard before, and it worried him far more than it should have.

He was about to seek the source of the fleeing life force when a scent hit him and caused another wave of chills.

Blood.

The coppery, metallic smell flared his senses wildly. Very few Pokémon types could smell blood at such a great distance, but Ghost-types were part of the exception. The familiar scent of death was so close he could taste it.

The smell suddenly started to get closer and he looked down into the Cemetery. From this distance, he could see a familiar figure approaching, running wildly in fact.

It was Eevee.

His heart started to sink in dread as he floated quickly out of the tower and to the ground. He met her there and became shocked.

Her soaked fur was stained with blood in several places. A deep gash was on her face and the blood running down it caused her eye to sting and blink. She was battered and bruised, and looked like she had just gotten out of a big fight. Her paws were also stained in blood, but it smelled different than hers, and he knew it had to be someone else's.

Before he could ask what the hell was going on, Eevee rammed her face into his spherical body, "Oh Ghastly!"  
She sobbed into him, and he only looked on in confusion by the sudden affection, "Eve! Eve!" he pulled back and tried to look into her bleeding face, but she was too busy sobbing to meet his gaze.

Concern laced with anger, he boldly asked, "What happened? Who did this to you? Was it a bully?"

She shook her head and kept it low, sobbing uncontrollably. She had never looked so horribly traumatized to him than now.  
Finally able to speak, she sputtered through sobs, "A N-Nidoking attac-attacked us on our way h-here cause he wa-was hunting on the p-path! W-we tried to f-fight him off but he was too st-strong! I managed to b-blind him in his right eye b-but it wasn't enough a-and…" she broke into another set of sobs and wails, unable to control herself.

Ghastly had no idea how to react. He was no expert on consolation, "What? What did he do? Eevee, where's Espeon?"

Eevee tipped her head back and howled, "Dead! She's dead! He killed her!"

She started to scream, and her words only made Ghastly stare.

_Dead? Dead? She's…Espeon's DEAD?_

The Pokemon that had cared for his best friend, in some ways for him… He admired her, he remembered how nice she always was to them, how gentle she spoke.

And…now she's dead? Snuffed out like a damn _candle_?

Rage like no other built inside of him.

_Dead._

_DEAD._

_**DEAD!**_

Suddenly, his anger subsided and his voice became very calm and robotic, "Eevee, come on. Come with me inside the tower. Let's get out of the rain."

Horribly broken, Eevee nodded and followed him up to the top of the tower, where the bell was. She was too upset to sense the sudden change in his tone.

Ghastly had gathered some old rags around the tower humans had left behind and laid them out for his friend. She settled onto it, but she was still crying and wet. The blood had become more like water and ran with it into the rags underneath her.

Ghastly flew in front of her and pushed his head against hers, trying to keep her calm, "There there, it'll be okay…" he soothed as best he could.

"N-no it won't." she sobbed and pulled away from him, looking dead on, "Wh-what am I going to do now? Where am I s-supposed to go? W-What am I going to do without her..."

"I don't know Eve…I'm so sorry." He glanced to her bloody paws, "You said it was a Nidoking that attacked you guys? And you blinded him in the right eye?"

She sniffed a few times, "Yeah, just along the path…" she hiccuped a bit, something she hadn't grown out of still, and drooped her head again.

She was lost and broken. First her father and now her mother. It was all just too much to take in.

Ghastly looked upon her with sympathy and took a deep breath, knowing what to do, "Eve, look. Stay here for now, and…do me a favor."

She looked back into his eyes and sniffled, "W-what?"

His pupils suddenly glowed a gentle blue and he whispered, _"Sleep…"_

She was about to ask him what he was talking about when she found she couldn't take her eyes off his. The blue sparkling light consumed her mind and turned it into a hazy fog. No longer having the strength to keep her eyes open, she slumped onto the rags, fast asleep.

Ghastly's eyes stopped glowing and he looked down at her with regret.

He hated having to use Hypnosis on her, but she was already traumatized and to see what he was about to do wouldn't help things. He didn't want her to stop him from his next decision.

Quietly, he left his unconscious friend there and floated out of the tower towards the forest path, following the scent of the Nidoking's blood.

* * *

_Sorry, that was a really depressing Chapter. :/_

_So, what do you think? Should Ghastly really be mad? It's the circle of life for an animal to seek out and kill prey when they're hungry. How can he argue with instinct? Problem is, it was one of his friends that was prey..._

_Well, anyone who can guess what he's going to do before the next chapter is up gets a cookie. :3_


	7. Justice, Vengence, and Farewell

_Chapter 7: Justice, Vengeance, and Farewell_

Ghastly was starting to become unsure as he floated down the grass path. He had specifically gone around the entrance to avoid Espeon's dead body. He just didn't want to see her yet; else he'd fly into a blind rage. The teen knew he didn't need that. He had to keep his thoughts clear for concentration on what was to come next.

His scent was easy to follow. He must have been bleeding a lot.

The ghost was partially grateful Eevee was able to do such significant damage.

_Probably because Espeon weakened him._

He growled, concentrating on something he's never really thought of before, nor ever wanted.

Revenge.

Soon, he could feel his presence. Turning invisible so he wouldn't be seen right away, Ghastly continued along the path.

It wasn't long then before he heard angry huffing and muttering. Tensing up, the invisible sphere floated slowly towards his target.  
In the darkness and the rain, he could see the hulking hunched over figure of the Nidoking.

He was clutching his bleeding right eye, growling and whining. He was bloody, and to Ghastly's horror the blood on his horn wasn't his or Eevee's. He knew who else it had to be, and it angered him.

Carefully and slowly, he floated every closer to the adult Pokémon. He was close enough to hear him mumbling to himself over the rain, "Ugh, this wasn't worth a meal!"

That statement got him mad. The thought of his friends being considered just a MEAL to someone was hurtful and outrageous. Even if it was how life went, to end up on the other side was no fun.

He didn't like all of this anger, it scared him. He wouldn't lose himself, no, he had to stay focused. The last thing Eve needed was him to go over the edge.  
He knew when a spirit loses itself in vengeance; they become hostile to every living creature. He wasn't a REAL ghost, but he was a ghost-type Pokémon and had connections to the dead like any of his species.

Was it possible to lose himself in vengeance too?

He didn't have time to contemplate further when the Nidoking spoke again, "That little brat. When I recover, I'll hunt her down and break her!" he didn't just say that in anger, it was mixed with delicious vengeance.

His words angered him more at the thought of him hurting Eevee again.

He now knew Nidoking's goal went beyond satisfying hunger anymore. It was more than that now. He was looking for revenge against his friend! His friend who was only trying to defend herself!

_I'll never let you touch her! I'll never let anyone touch her!_

Ghastly couldn't stop a menacing growl escaping his throat. The Nidoking spun in his direction, looking straight at where the ghost was supposed to be, "Huh? Who's there?"  
His left eye looked confused; his right eye was just a bloody mess. It almost scared the teen, but he held firm. Even though he couldn't see him, Ghastly made the most horrifying, furious face he could at the grownup.

_You'll pay for what you've done!_

If Nidoking recovered he'd just hunt Eve down and kill her. He knew it.

No, he wouldn't let him. He had to stop him. There was no other way, and Ghastly was done listening.

Calming himself and using the darkness as a cover, he let himself become visible under the storm. Nidoking blinked a few times with his left eye and squinted. His damaged vision coupled with the moonless stormy night did nothing to help him see the black round figure floating in front of him.

He took a step towards Ghastly, and the teen only looked on with hate. Squinting even more, he stumbled towards him closer, moving at a Weedle's pace. Ghastly was patient though. He had done this a thousand times with prey.

When he got close enough, Nidoking could finally smell Ghastly over the blood in his nose and see the large narrow eyes staring back at him. He bared his teeth, "Who are you?" he tried to sound as threatening as he could, but Ghastly could sense he was unsure. He was hurt pretty badly and was in no shape to battle again.

Ghastly didn't answer him. Instead, he only stared on, the rain taping his body and causing the purple haze around him to flicker.

He knew that being a poisonous type, any poisonous attacks Ghastly used against the older Pokémon wouldn't do too much damage, and then it would give Nidoking time to retort. Though wounded, if you corner a hurt Pokémon they're unpredictable.

Annoyed by Ghastly's silence, Nidoking angrily motioned at him to leave, "Go on, scram. I'm not in the mood to fight."

Eyes slitting in anger, Ghastly finally responded in his deep, ghostly voice, "You killed an Espeon tonight, did you not?"

He seemed startled by his sudden voice and how cold it was, but regained his composure and asked, "I did?" his lips slowly twitched into a sneer, "She died huh? Heh, good. At least I got one of them."

The haze around him exploded like flames, fury building to a point it would blow.

He was happy? No, _joyous_ that he took her life?

This was no longer just a matter of revenge. Now, it was a quest for justice!

Nidoking sensed Ghastly's hostility and took a step back, "Hey?" He seemed surprised, "What's it to you?"

Practically bellowing, Ghastly yelled, **"She was my friend!"**

Nidoking didn't seem interested in his yell and only shook his head, "Like I care."  
Ghastly growled, and he looked on. In a flash of lighting above them, he could see the much smaller and less intimidating Pokémon. He wasn't sure what he was, but he knew it was a young Ghost type and was no longer cautious.  
Instead, he only laughed and mocked, "Oh, I'm sorry. Did I hurt your feelings, kid? Get out of here before you end up like that Espeon."

That tore it.

Snarling, Ghastly turned into a puff of haze and glowed a bright purple. The Nidoking's eyes widened in surprise, but not fear. It wasn't good enough.

He was going to MAKE him fear him!

Within the mist, his eyes flashed red and he hurled a powerful Shadow Ball at him. It hit his plated chest, but only made him mad. When it faded, Nidoking took a swing at Ghastly. But his arm only fazed through the purple haze and did no damage whatsoever, "What the-" was all he managed to say before Ghastly screamed at him.

It hurt his sensitive ears and they folded, causing Nidoking to back away. Ghastly's scream turned into an angry wail as he suddenly turned into his physical form again and lunged forward. He tackled the Nidoking in the stomach as hard as his smaller body could propel.

Nidoking made an 'oof' sound and fell onto his back into the wet grass after the impact.

Before Nidoking could pick himself up, Ghastly flew right into his face, fire in his eyes.

Nidoking snarled and was going to head butt the younger Pokémon, but Ghastly screamed again. He winced back in numbing pain at the howls, and that gave Ghastly an advantage. Screaming louder, he looked right into him, into his very soul and wailed, "Do you fear me? Do you fear me now! Scream! Scream damn you!"

The adult didn't scream, but his eye widened in pure cold terror, like none he's ever felt before. It was so horrifying it paralyzed him in place.

Now that his prey was incapacitated with terror, Ghastly opened his mouth. In one swift move, he licked the side of Nidoking's face.

He tipped his head back and let out a blood curdling squeal. All his muscles locked in place and his mouth was forced open to the sky. A white, misty substance rose from his chest and out of his jaws. His soul was pulled out of him by some kind of unknown force.

Inhaling deeply with his maw opened wide, Ghastly breathed the white mist into his lungs, consuming it and devouring it. It was a huge meal, and Ghastly coughed and almost spat the soul out.  
Determination winning over indigestion, he forced himself to adapt. It was a painful process, but once he stopped shaking he was able to absorb and swallow his food without further difficulty.

The Nidoking only convulsed and twitched a number of three times before he fell back into the ground, limp. His last breath wheezed out of him and he became an empty shell. His single eye looked into the sky, the light in it fading away and finally absent of any life.

Ghastly growled at his dead body in disgust. He didn't feel good about having to kill in such anger, but this was more than just his feelings.  
He had gotten justice for Espeon's death, and he ensured that Eve would be safe.

It was a horrible thing, having to eat a soul. When someone dies, their souls are free and pass into another world. When it's devoured, however, it's like eating food. It's gone forever, in this life and the next. A fate far worse than death.

Even so, it was justice that caused Ghastly to eat his soul in just one swoop. He could have taken little at a time, made him suffer and convulse for hours. If he was evolved, he could have made the pain last for days or maybe a week.

But he didn't, he couldn't. Despite his appearance he wasn't a monster, he wouldn't cause suffering. Even though eating souls was a horrible thing, once it exited the body it was painless and quick.

The Nidoking should be grateful for his act of mercy. It was far more than he deserved for what he did to Espeon.

Ghastly felt some regret, but no shame or anger at what he had done. He knew that not all Nidokings were like this, and even this one wasn't EVIL per se. Just primal, just like Ghastly would have been if he was hungry. He was hateful though, and would have pursued that hate, and that was something the young ghost couldn't allow.  
He held no grudges though. The deed was done, justice was served, and his friend's mother was avenged.

He turned and left the Nidoking's shell in the woods. He killed him quickly, but that didn't mean he was empathetic enough to bother burying him.

He did, however, go back for Espeon's body…

* * *

He waited at the base of the tower in the gentle sprinkling rain patiently for Eevee to awaken. He'd only used a minor Hypnosis attack on her, so she should have only been asleep for an hour.

He could sense dawn was approaching, and he knew he had to get in the Bell Tower soon.

In the meantime, he had already carried Espeon's body back to the graveyard and buried her near the tower. He had no tombstone, and he didn't know how to write, but he placed a small white flower on it as some kind of memorial mark. Ghastly knew it would have torn Eve apart to have to bury her own mother.

Finally, Ghastly heard the door behind him open. He turned around to see Eevee drowsily emerging from the tower. Blood was still mixed into her messy damp fur, but the rain had washed most of it out. Her brown eyes dim, she wobbled towards him, woozy from the forced deep sleep.

A twang of guilt passed over him at the sight of her weary form. Even a mild Hypnosis had its negative side effects.

Eve moved to him and spotted the fresh grave with the flower on top to his side. She didn't have to ask where it came from or who it was.

Instead, with her eyes half open and not saying a word, she stumbled to Ghastly and pushed her head against him in an affectionate nudge. He remained still and leaned into her, giving Eevee his version of a 'hug', what with his lack of hands and arms.

They stayed like that for several minutes until Eevee asked without moving away, "What happened?"

Warily, unsure how she'd react, he quietly said, "You don't have to be afraid. The Nidoking that killed your mother will never hurt you again."

For a long time she didn't say anything, and didn't even react. Slowly, she let out a long sigh as if she understood and pushed harder against him. He was cold as ice and the longer she stayed against him, even with her fur, it hurt, but she didn't care. She really needed some support right now.

After a long while, she pulled away and looked to Espeon's grave in more silence. Ghastly turned with her and stayed there, side by side, looking down to the grave in sorrow.

No longer would Eve feel the warmth of her mother's fur on a cold winter night, or hear her melodies lull her to sleep.  
No longer would Ghastly see her kind smile towards him, or watch the amusing similarities she shared with her young daughter.

She was gone, and they could never bring her back.

After sitting there for a very long time, Ghastly turned his eyes to Eve. She was sitting in silence, but there was odd look on her face. Hidden underneath a blanket of sorrow and drowsiness, he could see the slightest hint of deep thought.

He was no mind reader though. What could she be thinking?

Eevee felt his eyes on her and turned her eyes to him without moving her head. He held his gaze still, slowly finding his words, "For what it's worth, Eve, I can sense her soul out there. I know she must be with your father and looking down on us. They will always be here with you. Don't forget that, okay, Eve?"

She gave a sad, but content, nod and sighed, "Thank you…" she leaned to her left and against him again. He was starting to get uneasy with all this physical interaction. He just wasn't used to it.

They stayed in silence once again longer than before. After another hour, the dark sky started to turn grey with the rising sun. Knowing it was time to go inside, without words Eevee and Ghastly went into the bell tower and to the top.

Eve sat next to the bell and stared onto the graveyard she had spent so many years playing in. As the sky brightened, it lit up the damp cemetery and covered it in a misty aura.

Ghastly could tell she wanted to say something, but had no idea what. He floated next to her and nudged her shoulder with his forehead, "Eve?"

Without looking at him and keeping her eyes locked on the graveyard, she whispered, "I'm leaving."

He gawked at her, his heart sinking, "Wh-what? Why?"

"Ghastly." She said quietly and turned her head, dead serious, "I can't stay here. I can't stay in this place or go back to the forest. I have nothing to go back to. It's too much, too painful. I have to go away for a while."

"B-but Eve!" he flew up into her face, "You promised you wouldn't go! You promised you wouldn't leave me alone again!"

She let out a solemn sigh and looked away from his teary gaze, "I did, but Ghastly, we all knew this day was coming. Sooner or later, I would have had to go off on my own to find my place and evolve from a stone. It's an Eevee's destiny, and we all have to do it. It's just too bad it had to be sooner rather than later."

He frowned, "Let me come with you. We can go together!"

She shook her head, "No, Ghastly. This is something I have to do on my own. I have to explore and get away to be by myself. Please, understand this is something I need to do; else I'll never be happy here. Do you…understand?"

He looked at her in conflict. He wanted to beg and cry for her to stay or to make her take him to. Yet, he also knew it was what she wanted and had to do to recover and find her evolve form.

It was a passage into adulthood, and who was he to deny her happiness.

Sadly, he moved his body up and down in a nod, "I…I understand Eve. I'm sad, but I understand."

She smiled at him, the first she had all night, and said, "Thanks…"

Eve looked back to the graveyard and Ghastly quietly asked, "Will you come back? You won't forget me will you?"

She snapped her head back to him in a broader smile, "Of course I will. How can I forget about you? You're my best friend Ghastly. Even if you're a pain." She shoved him with her paw and it caused him to giggle despite everything.

"I'll miss you…" he said softly, looking to the ground.

Her smiled faded and she quietly responded, "I'll miss you too."

"But you will come back?" his eyes widened a bit, "Honest and for truly?"

"Honest and for truly."

* * *

She left the Cemetery in an opposite direction of the forest path this time, heading off into the plains and into the unknown.

All she could think about was what she would find on her travels and the promise she made to her only friend…

* * *

_Cue flash forward!_

_lol, yeah, sorry if I made Ghastly seem a little scary there in the beginning, but what can you expect? Being scary is part of his name after all. :)  
_


	8. Friends for Dinner

_Okay, a bit of a Warning here.  
_

_This is a VERY long chapter, so I suggest you find somewhere soft and cozy to read this. Maybe in bed at night with the rain going on outside. That's what was happening when I started this chapter. ;)  
_

_Enjoy!  
_

* * *

_Chapter 8: Friends for Dinner_

It had turned into a dark, full moon night. The sky was clear and its beautiful pale light shined wonderfully on the thick forest below.

Two bright crimson eyes stared up at the full moon, sparkling in awe. The owner of the red eyes sat on top of a large boulder with her tail behind her.

The beautiful figure was sleek and fox-like, with very fine, smooth black fur darker than obsidian. Her ears were long, curved and pointed, and her bushy long tail matched. Disrupting her black fur were pretty yellow rings on the upper part of each of her four legs, right where they met the torso. The yellow rings also wrapped like bands around her ears and tail. The last ring was in the center of her forehead, just up and between her eyes.  
The bands glowed dimly, the Pokémon dimming them on purpose so they wouldn't affect her view of the moon.

The only thing that hadn't changed with her Evolution was her tiny black nose, which twitched in the smell of the familiar forest.

The grown Umbreon took in a deep breath, inhaling the intoxicating aroma of the late night time air. It was sweet and fresh, and she recognized this area.  
She regretfully exhaled the breath and closed her eyes.

_How many years has it been?_

As much as she hated to think about it, she had forgotten how long she had been exploring. She knew it had been at least 7 or so years since the stumbled upon some moon stones in a cave of Clefairies. The Evolution was fast and nothing like she's ever felt before. The sensation that enveloped her tiny body was cold, but invigorating, magical as she grew taller and her whole physiology changed along with her mindset. She was still the same Eevee before she found those rocks, but now she was matured, fully evolved and powerful. The power within her was vastly unknown, and as a Dark-type she knew she was capable of devastating abilities most Pokémon couldn't experience.  
Along with that came full sense and appreciation for the night time. It was almost like fate had played a hand in her finding those Moon Stones. Before she evolved, her Eevee form was already used to the dark and started to love it. As an Umbreon, it expanded upon that love and turned her into a full creature of the night. If she had become anything else, especially an Espeon, Umbreon knew her previous love for darkness would have diminished greatly.

Becoming an Umbreon was the perfect match and her destiny. Even though she finally made peace with herself, she was still unsure and delayed coming back to this forest for another 7 years, and she now regretted that decision. She still didn't know how long it was she was gone before that, but she hoped it wasn't too much longer.

She abruptly stopped thinking about it and opened her eyes. She knew her return was far overdue.

Umbreon bent down and jumped off of the rock she was sitting on, landing nimbly on the tall grass. Trotting forwards, she casually made her way through and around the pathless forest, knowing the way home with surgical precision.  
Looking like she was being guided by an invisible force, Umbreon swiveled left and right around the trees, using the scents of the leaves and grass as a guide to find her way. She'd become very successful at hunting and navigating at night. Her eyes could adjust quickly to the dark and act as night vision goggles most of the time.

Once she reached a certain area, she knew the trees. Their shapes hadn't changed too much since she was there, and used them to find the river.

Smiling, she followed the river south a little ways until she reached a group of trees and rocks. She knew the river emptied out into the forest clearing she had lived most of her life.

Once she reached the clearing, she looked around and could sense all of the sleeping Pokémon there. She was home, at last.

Able to relax, she bent over and drank some of the water from the river. Not long after she had though, something stirred nearby, "Who's there?"

She picked her head up to see a Slowbro facing her, drowsy eyed. She recognized the older Pokémon immediately and smiled, "Mr. Slowbro? Hi!"

He looked at her with puzzlement, "Who and what are you? I've never seen your kind around here before, and only kids that live here call me that."  
Umbreon laughed, "Mr. Slowbro, it's me. Eevee!"  
He looked at her with more confusion, "I know a lot of Eevee's around here, Miss, and I've never seen any of them evolved like you."  
She gave a long sigh and cocked her head, "Sir, I was the smallest one, and the only one to have an Espeon as my mother? My friend Ghastly and I hid your rock collection in the trees…?"

His eyes widened as he woke up immediately, "Wha-Eevee? Little Eevee? The kid with the Ghastly? Ah!" he started to laugh, "Hey! I never thought we'd see you around here again!"

She laughed with him, "I know! It's been so long! Good to see you again."

"Ah, well. Good to see you too." He smiled, "You certainly have grown up. Glad to see you finally evolved after all. Though, what form is that?"

"An Umbreon." She looked down at herself, "Unexpected, but the perfect choice I think." She looked back up to him and turned her head to the large tree that once served as her burrow, "This place doesn't seem to have changed much. Is anyone living in my old home?"

"Nah." He shook his head, "After you and your mother disappeared, we had no idea if you'd come back or not, so we left it alone. It's a good thing we did, huh? You planning to stay here again?"

She smiled without looking at him, "Yeah, I might like to." She turned back, "But first there's something I have to do, so I may be gone for a while."

"Yeah, well, go on ahead." He motioned at her and started turning back around, "I'm not one to stop you. You're a big girl now, right? I'm tired."

She watched him leave and go back to his little den, and then quietly said, "I guess I am…."

Once he was gone, she turned around and continued down the forest path that she knew by heart led to the Zoryn Cemetery.

Along the way, she felt a twinge of pain come back when the memory of what happened along the path hit her.  
Quickly shaking it away, she knew she had come to peace with herself and that her mother was in a better place now.

Instead, she focused on a happier thought to distract her, like Ghastly. She couldn't wait to see her old friend after so long.  
In her adventures, she's seen a lot of very interesting places and people, but as far as friends went she was a loner. At first, when she was an Eevee, it hurt her a lot, but as soon as she transformed into an Umbreon that sense of crushing loneliness went away.  
If she had to guess, maybe wild Umbreons preferred to be alone and in the dark all the time, but she wasn't sure.

However, even after she Evolved, she still had a hollow place in her heart for her childhood friend. She had to come back.

She promised him she would.

Upon reaching those familiar metal gates, she looked at the bars. She wasn't a tiny Eevee anymore, and she knew she couldn't wiggle through them. She'd have to find another way in.  
Luckily for her, the gate was just a little bit open. She had pushed the gate a little more open with her head to get it wide enough.

Once it was open just a little bit more, her slim figure was able to squeeze through the gates and allow her entrance into the graveyard.

Umbreon felt a shiver go through her body at the sight of the graveyard. With the full moon shining down on the fog and the tombstones, she knew it was just like the night she had first arrived there.

_The night I had met Ghastly._

Letting her wave of nostalgia pass, she walked with renewed vigor towards the Bell Tower, excited now more than ever to see him again.

As silly as it was, she really hoped he'd want to play the same funny games they had when they were kids.

_Oh, who am I kidding? This is GHASTLY I'm talking about! He always wants to play!_

Trotting, her rings started to glow brighter than she intended. Their yellow light gently lit up parts of the graveyard, but not enough to disturb the dead.

Umbreon finally reached the Bell Tower. She looked the old stone up and down and fondly remembered all the games of night tag they played around it.

She looked around and was going to call out for him, when something caught her eye. Just on the edge of her peripheral vision, she saw a quick flash jump from behind a tombstone.

Feeling a cold chill, she turned around and darted her eyes, but saw nothing. Everything had become eerily still and quiet, something very familiar indeed.

This was pretty different though. There wasn't just a sense of being watched, but it was a sense of…dread.

She wasn't just being watched right now, she was being hunted.

Fear welled up in her chest at the thought of being attacked by a Ghost Pokémon any second. Her markings glowing brighter, Umbreon got in a defensive stance and scanned the area, trying to find any sight of movement.  
Suddenly, a cold wave passed through her again and forced her to turn to her right. Not too far off from her position, she noticed one of the nearby old Mausoleums had both of its heavy wooden doors wide open, facing her.

The image chilled her. They were NEVER open.

Perhaps humans started coming back to bury their dead here? Maybe it was preparation for a body to be moved there in the morning?

Another wave of cold told her no, this wasn't natural. Something else had opened those doors.

What was really weird was though her special eyes could cut through the darkness like a knife; the darkness within the opened Mausoleum was impenetrable. No matter how hard she squinted, she couldn't see through the haze.  
It was like the whole inside had been obscured by a Wheezing's smog, and it was scary.

Unsure, she started to back away from the darkness when something else hit her. An irresistible urge started to pass over her. It was suggesting the whole time to go towards the darkness, towards the Mausoleum.

Her eyes widened, unsure of where this dark urge came from.

Then, in the center of the open doors, a pair of large, triangle shaped eyes with tiny black slits for pupils appeared.

She gasped at the sight and feeling those eyes gave her. They were hungry and preditorial, yet oddly very familiar.  
The eyes were only thing in the darkness she could see. Not even a silhouette of the owner appeared in the surrounding smog.

Finding her voice, she squeaked, "Hello?"

She could see the eyes narrow in a look of glee and she could swear the figure was smiling at her. In the dark, she could make out the slightest shape of a hand floating up. It had three, very sharp claws.

The clawed hand curled and turned upward. In a fluid motion, one of the fingers beckoned at her to come closer.

Though ever fiber of her instinct screamed not to, she found another urge to go hit her like a brick. A whispering voice, too quiet to understand but just loud enough to hear, seemed to heighten the effect as she suddenly found herself unable to keep from walking forward.

Step by step, she walked closer and closer to the opened Mausoleum and the dark figure inside. She could see its eyes narrow even more and its claw increase the beckoning in urgency, persuading her to come even closer.

Umbreon had no idea what this feeling was, but it was like a fog clouding her rational thoughts. As hard as she tried to break away from the alluring beckoning she was pulled right back into her pace by the whispers. To say it was disturbingly creepy was an understatement.

Finally, when she reached the stone edge of the structure, the beckoning and whispers abruptly stopped. Snapping out of her trance, she took a deep breath and tried to back away.

But it was too late, she was too close.

The figure's black pupils slit as it launched itself from the darkness to her. She tried to use her swift reflexes to move out of the way, but she found herself unusually sluggish.

She felt sharp, strong hands grasp her sides. They pinned her arms to her torso and lifted her up off the ground. She cried out in surprised and panicked at the feeling of her legs dangling in the air. She kicked them to free herself, but to no avail.

Umbreon started thrashing her body and head left and right, trying to pull away from the hands, but they just tightened her grip and held her firm.  
In a moment of exhaustion, she stopped squirming and looked up to face the figure. She sucked in her breath at the pair of gleeful, large eyes looking back at hers.

Revealed in the moonlight, she could see him fully. Her assailant was a ghost type, but she hadn't seen him before.  
He had a very large, oddly shaped body that floated off of the ground. His oval-ish body had a trio of spike-like protrusions on either side of his scary face, the top large set almost looking like ears the way they twitched. She could see the underside of his body had a spiky pattern to it, much like tattered hanging fabric or something. He was a very dark purple, and it really made him stand out with the darkness behind him.  
His triangle shaped, narrow eyes were staring back joyously at her, happy he had caught his prey. She looked down a bit and was shocked to see the claws holding her were floating away from his body and were in fact possessed by disembodied hands. That was horrifying by itself, but what really scared her was when she looked back to his face she saw his teeth. Very, VERY, sharp teeth, in fact.

Along his lips were a set of what looked to be sharp ridges, and behind them was a row of pointy white teeth that ghoulishly grinned at her.

She saw his grin get even wider as he sensed her fear spike.

Satisfied from the joy, she saw him open his mouth and knew what was to come.

_He's going to lick me! No no no no no!_

She knew the way she was pinned there was no escape or way to use a physical attack on him, and the poisonous sweat she could expel would have little to no effect on a Ghost Pokémon.

So she squeezed her eyes shut and made one last desperate move.

The golden markings on her brightened up in a millisecond and in one quick explosion of light, she instinctively used Flash on him.

The sudden burst of light caused the ghost to howl and drop her. She hit the grass but she quickly rolled to her feet with cat-like grace, ready to continue attacking her blinded assailant. The rings on her body lessened their harshness, but still glowed brightly.

The Pokémon spun his back to her and threw his floating hands to his eyes, wailing, "Light! Gaahh my eyes! It burns!" he floated to the ground on the steps of the Mausoleum and vigorously began to rub them.

The darkness that enveloped the Mausoleum suddenly dispersed to reveal and empty stone structure. With him hunched and whining before her he didn't seem so scary anymore.

She straightened up out of her fighting pose and smirked down at him, satisfied at her knowledge of how sensitive Ghost Pokémon's eyes were to light, "Maybe you'll think twice before attacking an Umbreon again, huh?"

He began to snarl and it caused her to back up, but he didn't move from his spot.  
Instead, he lifted one of his hands away from his right eye and turned to face her, the other still rubbing his left, "Geez, what's your problem lady?" he whined, "That hurt like hell!"  
His eye was still dilating and he was having a hard time focusing. His vision was blurry and filled with spots. The only thing he could see of his prey was a black and yellow blob.

She was a little off put by his shift from scary to wimpy, but glared down at him anyway, "Good! You should suffer for that! You nearly scared me to death and you tried to eat my soul!"

He seemed a little stunned that she knew what he was about to do, but suddenly yelled, "Oh come on! I was going to make it quick and painless! The scaring part was just a little bit of fun! Ow, ouch, ow." He started rubbing both of his eyes again, "It wasn't supposed to hurt! Honest and for truly!"

In that moment her heart stopped.

He couldn't be…this guy couldn't BE, but…

"Ghastly?" she took a step towards him, "Ghastly is that you?"

He groaned in annoyance, "Uh, yeah. I used to be a Ghastly before I turned into a Haunter. Duh. Are you stupid or something?"

She wasn't annoyed at all by his insult and instead eagerly said, "No Ghastly! Don't you remember? I'm your friend." She knew Haunter was the next evolve form of Ghastly, and it only made her more confident it was him.

"You shut up!" he snarled, pointing a claw at her despite his damaged vision, his eye was squeezed shut, "Don't you dare talk to me about being friends! I only have-had-one friend and she isn't you!" his voice was full of hate and sorrow.

Regret started to swell up in her and she quietly asked, "How long has Eve been gone?"

"Eve's been gone for 11 years! I haven't seen her and-" he stopped suddenly. She paid no attention to his sentence catch and only stared blankly forward.

_11…years?_

_I've been gone for 11 years?_

The shock was so much she would have sat down if he didn't start staring at her.  
This snapped her attention back to the ghost with his eyes on her, his gaze full of confusion and bewilderment, "H-how did you know…only I ever called her Eve, and no one else knew that she had left on her own. I let her leave…it was what she wanted."  
He started to become angry, "Whatever, it doesn't matter! She abandoned me! She said she'd come back but she never did so I don't wanna talk about it!

His words hurt, but she let him continue and get it out of his system, "I don't need anymore 'friends' and I certainly don't need her!"

With a stubborn huff, he kept his eyes squeezed shut and crossed his floating hands together.

She let out a long, sad sigh and said, "I'm sorry."

He turned his head to her and opened his eyes again, but she was still just a blob to him, "What are you going on about now?"

"I said I'm sorry I was gone for so long. Travels have been hard and I lost track of time." She stared at him hopefully, "Are you sure you don't need your best friend Eevee?"

His confused stare only deepened, "What the hell? You're not Eve!" he pointed accusingly at her form, "Eve was small and kind! You're neither! Just go away!"

Finally getting annoyed, Umbreon rolled her eyes and spoke in an irritated tone she knew he'd understand, "Look Ghastly, you're my best friend even if you're a pain."

That sentence, one of the last she'd told him when she left, hit him hard.

He fell silent and started blinking several times to force his vision to focus. After a few minutes, his vision cleared and he was able to see the figure in front of him clearly again.  
She looked different, very different, from the friend he knew as a Ghastly, but the look she was giving him…  
That kind, gently gaze hidden behind those eyes as red as blood, they were the exact same way her brown eyes would stare at him.

They were so understanding, so gentle.

She couldn't be…she CAN'T be…

"Eve?" he had some trouble, but once his disorientation subsided he floated upwards. Umbreon flinched from him, suddenly realizing the real size difference between the two.  
She was much bigger than she was when she was an Eevee, but he was HUGE. He was at least three times bigger than when she last saw him as a Ghastly, and at least twice as her size.

Were Haunters supposed to be this big?

She tensed even more when he floated closer to her. He was so scary, but his eyes…they held an undeniable resemblance. She could see it there before, when he grabbed her. She was afraid, but she knew they were strikingly familiar.

He reached out with one of his horrifying floating hands and moved it towards her. She wanted to pull away, but she felt like she could trust him. So, she held still and allowed him to touch her face. He brushed the back of his fingers and hand against her right cheek and gently stroked it. She had no idea why he was doing that. Maybe it was to make sure she was real.  
She shivered at the ice cold touch and the feeling of two of the sharp claws brushing her fur, tickling her and making her nose twitch.

He chuckled, and she felt the vibrations through his hand.

She knew by his laugh then it was him.

Haunter removed his hand from her face and stared at her, his smile growing, "It IS you! Only Eve's cute little nose twitched like that!"

Haunter held his arms out to her, tears in his eyes welling up from an overload of happiness, "Is it really you? Eve?"

She sputtered a bit and could feel tears form in her own eyes, "Yes, Ghastly. It is me. Honest and for truly!"

Squealing in happiness he grabbed her by the waist suddenly and twirled them both around and high into the air, laughing fully and joyously. It was the first time he's laughed so well in years.

Umbreon couldn't stop from echoing his squeal as he spun her around.

Once he put her back down, they started to flay and hop around each other like excited hatchlings, screaming and yelling joyously at one another about finally reuniting after so long and how much they've grown. (To compare the visuals of the situation, think of Nala and Simba's reunion from the Lion King)

When their flurry of unintelligible eager sentences finally passed and he put her down, they stayed in front of each other, out of breath.

Haunter was the first to talk again, "Oh Eve! You look, you're so-" he circled around her, giving her a once over.  
She turned a bit red at his attention, but bowed her head to shrug it off, "You're looking a little too long, Haunter."  
He seemed startled and floated back a bit, "S-sorry. It's just, you look…different." He grinned a bit wider, how the heck was he able to do that even more?  
He motioned at her up and down with his hands, "You look…wow, like…really beautiful Eve." He said it more with a playful tone, but he kinda meant it.

She really had grown from an adorable Eevee into this exotic being, a Pokémon he'd never seen before. Judging by her energy, he could tell she was a dark-type, a Pokémon pretty close to his own. An Eeveelution that dwells in darkness? He liked that a lot.

Umbreon became a little flustered and muttered, "Uh, um thank you."

Haunter realized his mistake and quickly said, "Oh-oh, wait, uh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. I take it back."  
She raised a brow at him, "So I'm ugly then?"  
He gawked at what he just said and tried to correct it, "No! I mean, no, as in you're not ugly. I just took back my complitment that you were beautiful so you wou;dn't be umcomfortable! Not that I'm saying I think you're ugly by taking the comment back and-doh…"

He slammed the palm of his hand into his face, "I'm such an idiot."

She giggled and gently said, "Relax buddy, I'm just teasing you."

He removed his hand and awkwardly grinned, "It's just…this is really unexpected. When you said you were going to evolve, you, eh, REALLY evolved."

She smiled bashfully, "Well, what about you? You filled out pretty nicely yourself."

He was still scary, but now that her fear had faded her friend did look good. He was healthy and a vibrant shade of purple. He'd been doing well.

Haunter's face turned a darker shade of purple for a second, but he seemed to shake of his embarrassment. Instead, he puffed his chest out a bit and put his hands to his 'hips', looking quite proud, "Thanks! I was worried when I evolved 5 years ago I wouldn't like it, but I really do! Twice the power and scares!" he gave a hearty over the top laugh, and it just caused Umbreon to smile bigger.

They had both grown up. Well, at least Ghastly had physically. Mentally was another story.

Then again, who was she to judge maturity?

Right now, seeing him here laughing reminded her of how much she really did miss him.

He suddenly stopped laughing and looked down at her, looking a little sad, "Still, scaring just hasn't been as much fun without you."

Umbreon nodded, but he moved closer, "I'm really sorry about attacking you Eve; I didn't know it was you. You just looked and smelled so different. I swore for a moment the way you moved looked familiar, but I shrugged it off and focused on my hunger instead." His spikes moved and drooped like ears, "I can't believe I almost had my best friend for dinner."

"Hey hey, it's okay." She leaned forward and nuzzled him between the eyes like she had years ago, "I'm just sorry it took me so long to come back. I'm also sorry I blinded you."  
He laughed again, sending more vibrations through her, "Heh, I had it coming. I'm just sorry I scared you so bad."

"Yeah, about that." She looked back to the empty structure, "The Mausoleum? Really?"

He turned to it, "Yep. Turns out it was empty all along. Who knew? It's great for scares and luring prey." He looked back to her, so happy it seemed like he was going to cry again, "But I'm just so glad you're back. You aren't going to leave me again, are you? I've been waiting so long. It's been so lonely and boring here."  
His tone took a ring of sadness and he floated closer to her, "Promise you'll stay now?"

She proudly smiled back, "Sure thing. I'm going to be living in my old burrow again, so you can come visit at night, and I'll come visit you again here."

He was so overjoyed he reached around with his hands and pulled her against him in a tight embrace. She tensed and shivered.

He was so cold!

When he let her go, she was a in a fit of bashful giggles. He had been more physical than he had ever been when he was a Ghastly, "Haha, well Haunter. I see you enjoy having hands. How are they doing for you?"

He held his claws out and looked at them, "They're really cool. It's so easy to grab things, and with finger's I'm able to do this!"  
Haunter put his fingers on the corners of his jaw and pulled downwards to open his mouth wide and bugged his eyes out, making the silliest expression she's ever seen by him.

She started laughing so hard she fell onto her back. He pulled his fingers away and put his hands on his stomach, laughing with her loudly.

After they were done, she looked up at him, "Still as hilarious as ever."

"It's not easy, took a lot of practice." He looked her up and down again, "I'm sorry, I just can't get over these." He ran a finger down her forehead along the glowing yellow ring, "They're so cool! Do they always glow like that?"  
She moved her eyes on the patterns that decorated her fur, "Well, not really. They flash in the daytime, but shine brightest at night to strike fear into prey…and predators."

She darted her red eyes at him, and he sheepishly recoiled, "Eh heh…"

He quickly motioned to her to follow him to the tower, "Come on, you just have to tell me all about your travels! Oh we have so much to catch up on!" she nodded and eagerly followed, tried to sort out the first story for him.

He'd be so jealous.

"So, what did you say you were?" he asked, looking her up and down again.

He was doing that a whole lot.

"I'm an Umbreon. Eevees evolve into this form after being exposed to Moon Stones. And you're a Haunter, right?"

He nodded as he opened the door to the Bell Tower for her, "Uh huh, and I'll be one for the rest of my life."

"Still not planning on getting caught and traded?"

"Wouldn't dream it, which by the way tastes wonderful. So you really didn't know they were Moon Rocks?"

"No, they were just bright glowing blue rocks to me. How was I supposed to know they were special? After my Evolution, I left feeling really different."

"It's a good thing the Clefairies let you get away with it!" he laughed, shaking the stone stairway in the tower. His laugh had gotten much louder than before.

She chuckled, "They're actually really nice, but strange. It's weird. It's like they knew that I should find the Moon Stones."

"I always heard those guys were unpredictable. Figures."

They continued chatting as they entered the tower. He closed the door behind him and went on talking with her as they ascended the stairway.

Both of them were too caught up to notice someone was watching the tower not too far…

* * *

_Whoo! You made it through the mountain of text! :D_

_So yeah, if you haven't guessed I'm KINDA hinting at some tiny romance in here, but I'm hesitant on how to pursue it. I'm not exactly too sure on how a lot of Pokemon court, so...I'm not sure yet._

_If anyone has ideas and would like to share them, just PM them to me or comment in a reply to this story. That'd be great and would help me out._

_Oh, BTW, yes, if any of you were able to guess by the title I did get it from the Land Before Time song 'Friends for Dinner'. If you don't know what Land Before Time is, you're sadly missing out. :)  
_


	9. A Night of Fun

_I'm back!  
_

_Sorry it took a while to post this, but I had to sort some things out with the story. Now that I think I have a plan I'll try to update it fast like before. :D_

_Also, bear with me, this is a LONG chapter! Like, at least 16 pages, but it's interesting! Please read and review! Thanks! And stayed tuned for more!_

_NOTE: The **()()()()()()()** is supposed to represent a 'flashback transition', kay?_

* * *

_Chapter 9: A Night of Fun_

Umbreon crawled out of her tree burrow and stretched. It was a lovely evening. She found herself sleeping more at daytime than night now, due to being an Umbreon.

It had been a few days since she and her childhood friend had reunited. She herself had changed a lot over the years, but she found Gastly, or Haunter, hadn't changed much except in power. He was still as playful and viciously mischievous as ever, and she didn't mind one bit.

It was part of what she liked about him, how silly he was. It made her feel good, considering everything. In fact, that night they agreed to meet under their Pecha Berry tree to go out for a 'night of fun' as he described it.

Smiling to herself, she dimmed the rings on her fur and walked through the clearing back to the river, where she knew the path to the Pecha Berry was. She walked down by the river, acknowledging the few water-type Pokémon playing with their children, and went right down to the tree.

A Poliwag and Goldeen turned their attention to her and looked to each other, "There she goes off again." Goldeen whispered, "No doubt to go frolic with that Ghost boyfriend of hers."

The two Pokémon giggled at the gossip and Umbreon's ears twitched. Thanks to her superior hearing, she had heard Goldeen's remark and their giggles. It made her hang her head in annoyance and anger.

_He's NOT my boyfriend!_

Ugh, the thought of that was just…way too weird. Seriously, SERIOUSLY, her and Haunter? They weren't even in the same egg group!

She walked to the trunk of the tree and looked to the branches. To her relief, the beautiful pink Pecha berries were growing healthy and strong.

Umbreon laid herself on the grass and watched orange hues in the sky slowly start turning purple as the sun sank.

Goldeen's words entered her thoughts again.

"…_with that Ghost boyfriend of hers."_

She sighed and grumpily laid her head on her paws.

It was blatantly obvious, and she knew it. She's been an adult for a good number of years now. Even in human years she knew she had to be an adult, and that was just pitiful.  
And even so, even after ALL her traveling; she knew she hadn't found something else that her kind often did when they left to evolve.

She hadn't thought about a mate.

Heck, even her mother and father knew they were destined to be when they were just Eevees themselves.  
Most social Pokémon had found a mate early on, but not her. She was different than most Eevee because she had been a loner most of her life, her only real friend was Ghastly, and he was out of the question!

_But he is the only guy you've ever had eyes for…_

She grimaced and shook her head.  
What was she thinking? She was attracted to Ghosts now? Eww! Isn't that…wrong?

_He's not really a GHOST-ghost, you know that._

She growled at her own emotions mixing up her rational thinking. Haunter could never be a suitable mate! What kind of Pokémon would be together if they couldn't even have an egg?

_It's happened before. It doesn't always have to be about offspring-_

She cut her own thoughts off with another rough shake of her head and rolled onto her back to look at the sky. It was a deep shade of purple and blue now. Any minute now it'd become dark all together and Haunter would be here.

She frowned when her thoughts repeated.

_It's happened before…_

That was true. When she was young, her mother and father were friends with a Lapras. She was very nice to her, she rememberd.

Umbreon closed her eyes, the memory from her childhood coming back…

**()()()()()**

_One day she noticed Lapras and an older Charizard nuzzling._

_She asked her father about it, and Vaporeon only told her, "Ah yes, our old friend Lapras started a relationship not that long ago with her childhood friend, that Charizard. A strange couple, but if they love each other why should that matter, hmmn?"  
Espeon shortly assured her, "It's not out of the ordinary for two different types to love each other, just very rare. Many Pokémon solely rely on our instinct to reprodu-uh I mean-get an egg, but a few others look for the more human version, which is love. In any case, if love is there, it can happen."_

_She recalled her mother and father giving a bashful glance to one another, which caused the excitable baby to respond, "Really? Then it would be okay for me to fall in love with a Charizard too?"_

_Amusingly, she remembered the shocked look both parents gave her and their embarrassed reactions._

"_Eh hem, perhaps. Let's just see when you're older." Vaporeon awkwardly replied, to which Espeon teased, "You know hon, even if you were a Kabutops you know I wouldn't have cared."  
"Oh really?" Vaporeon mockingly scoffed, smiling, "I highly doubt that. You would have missed my good looks."_

_The two grownups laughed, but she was too young to get it. Then Lapras playfully called out, "You know we can hear you all, right?"_

_When she looked over, the adult Charizard was looking down at her with a sarcastic smirk, "Just to let you know kid, you'll have to be prepared to show your strength if you ever want to impress a Charizard."_

"_We became friends when I bested him in a battle as kids, and fell for each other when I bested him again as adults." Lapras smiled at him, "It turns out we both liked each other for a long time and we were just having trouble accepting it, being so different. Or rather, I thought it was okay and HE was having trouble accepting it. It just took him forever to swallow his pride and admit it."_

_Charizard gave a stubborn huff and looked like he was going to teasingly argue, but he surprisingly gave it up and left to take a walk with Lapras down the beach._

**()()()()()**

Her eyes fluttered open from the brief memory to the sky again. It was a dark shade of blue and practically nighttime already.

She sighed and sat up, still unable to control her nagging feelings.

_Well, he IS very nice and suppose doesn't look too bad…for a Ghost Pokemon. He's the only other male Pokemon I know…heck, what am I thinking? At this point, even if I met more males I doubt I'd feel anything for them like I do Haunter. In fact, there was always just…something there. Something about him that I like._

Her lips twitched into a smile.

_Maybe it wasn't just his humor…maybe it was HIM?_

She blushed a little bit.

_I wonder if he's feels the same-no-what? No!_

Furious with her emotions winning over yet again, she gritted her teeth and stomped the ground.

_No! Stop it will you! You don't love him! This is Ghas-Haunter we're talking about! He'd never be interested or serious enough for a relationship! We're just too different! He's my best friend, one since childhood! It'd be just way too weird!_

Umbreon knew it wasn't just the fact he was in a different group, but because he was her best friend she worried that if he didn't feel the same way it'd just make things sour between them. It'd be too awkward and nerve wrecking for Haunter if he suddenly found out she likes him and he'd distance himself. It'd also probably hurt them both and they'd lose their friendship…

And she really didn't want to lose his friendship.

That was it, she'd drop it. She wouldn't ever consider him as a mate again. She'd find one, and if not that was okay too. She'd be a loner, which was perfectly fine even if it was rare for Eeveelutions to do that their whole life, what with how social they are.

Still, she'd be content. Perfectly content indeed.

_Yet…he IS so nice to me, and just a few nights ago he called be beautiful. Maybe he-_

She scowled at this, but was further interrupted when she felt a chill and suddenly everything went dark. It made her jump and then tense when she heard a voice say in her ear playfully, "Guess who?"

Umbreon didn't even have to ask who it was holding his hands over her eyes, "A very obnoxious ghost?"

"Aw, that hurts Eve." He removed one hand from her left eye and used it to suddenly lift a Pecha berry in front of her face, "And here I went and picked this for you."

She smiled as he removed his other hand and floated around, revealing it was none other than Haunter. He was smiling in his cheesy way still holding the pink berry out to her. She shook her head and took the berry in her mouth. Umbreon dropped it on the grass and started to eat it that way, what with having no 'hands' to grab it.

He flew up and picked another berry from the tree and flew down next to her, "Sup Eve?"

She finished her bit and cocked her head at him, "You know Haunter, I'm not an Eevee anymore. You don't have to keep calling me Eve."  
"Yeah yeah I know." He laid back in the air and put his free disembodied hand behind his head, like if he was lounging on an invisible couch, "But I can't help it. I've been calling you Eve for years, so I can't just drop it. I was planning on doing that anyways even after you evolved into whatever." He took a quick big bite out of Pecha berry and swallowed, "Besides, I still think that knick name's cute like you."

She flustered a bit and dipped her head. Okay, him calling her 'cute' wasn't really helping her little internal conflict right now.

_Why are you so damn nice?_

He noticed her awkward silence and shifted his eyes back to her. Umbreon's head was bowed a bit and her red eyes were avoiding his gaze. That was kinda weird, but come to think of it she did also tense when he got there.

It made him freeze.

_Oh no, did I do something wrong? Was it something I said? Is she catching on?_

Was it true? Was Umbreon figuring out that he may have some hidden feelings for her already? Dark Pokémon were powerful and capable of unusual things, but could she really be sensing something private from him that he's ashamed of?

Panicking, he dropped his mostly eaten berry and tried to recover, "I didn't mean anything by it!" now realizing the new mistake he made by opening his mouth, he slapped both hands on it in shock.

Umbreon snapped her head over to him, confused, "What? What makes you think that I thought you meant anything by it? And what would you mean by it?"

Unable to dig himself out of the new hole he just dug, he quickly looked around and changed the subject, "Uh-hey! Come on, it's nighttime! Aren't we gonna go have fun?"

She beamed up, relieved to have the whole thing swept under a different subject, "Yeah, yeah. What did you have in mind?"

Equally happy to have dropped the previous conversation, Haunter flew up to her face, a gleefully ghoulish expression on his, "I have a place I found 5 years ago I wanted to show you whenever you came back. I never thought I'd be able to since, well, you continued missing for 5 years. Now that you're here, we can go explore it together."  
He backed away from his uncomfortably close position and instead started to rock in the air, "It's really cool! I can't wait to show you!"

She grinned in amusement at him, "Oh come on Haunter, spit it out already!"

He laughed and looked right back at her, ready to reveal his surprise, "Okay, okay! It's an abandoned house I found in the woods!"

Umbreon's mouth dropped open in surprise, "An abandoned house? Here in the woods? You're kidding me!" she turned her head behind her to the random trees that lead deep into the forest. She's lived in these woods for most of her life, even explored around here for a while, and she's never seen such a house.

Haunter teleported in front of her, making her jump, "Uh huh! I was bored one night, so I explored outside of the Cemetery for a little while. I got hungry, and instead of berries I had a craving for a soul." He floated in front of her, like if he was pacing, "I didn't feel like a fight. Instead, I decided to go searching for a spare, large one cause I was really hungry at that point. Finally, I was able to sense and find one nearby. It was really old, and kinda hard for me to tell what it was. It wasn't a Pokemon, so it might have been human, and it felt very hateful and vengeful. The stupid white orb attacked me, but I easily caught it and ate it. It tasted so foul and I immediately got indigestion."  
He stuck his large tongue out and rubbed his stomach with both hands, remembering the unpleasant meal, "Yuck, whatever that human was like in life it must have been very horrible to be that disgusting down to the core."

Umbreon felt uncomfortable with him talking about eating souls, it was such a disturbing feature her old friend had. It was a good thing he barely ever did it. Well, at least to her knowledge…

Haunter also knew talking about soul consumption was scary to Umbreon, so he spared her details.

Instead, he looked back in the direction of the forest she was staring not too long ago, "Trying to keep from releasing the soul, I floated around in desperation to get control of myself. Then imagine my surprise when just through a few trees was a big old abandoned house! I guess that's where the soul came from, but I have no idea why it was wandering around outside of it. Well, I was so shocked and excited by the house I completely forgot about my stomachache and absorbed the big soul. In that moment, a weird tingly sensation enveloped me all over and then BOOM!" he clapped his hands and whirled them, "Next thing I know I became a Haunter at last! At the rate of my ghost Pokémon battles and soul consumption, I thought I'd never evolve!"  
He smiled, very proud of himself, "I was extremely happy, and to celebrate I wanted to go into the house and explore. Yet, I felt like it just wouldn't have been the same without you." He shrugged, "So I left and kept that adventure on hold until you arrived. Shortly afterwards, I collapsed in agony because then I got nausea." He grumbled, "The damn soul hit me hard in the stomach even after I evolved. Took an hour for me to heal again and go."

Still, that doesn't mean she didn't feel bad for him, "Oh Haunter, you should be careful. Last thing I need is for my friend to get sick from an ill soul."

He shook his hand up and down at her nonchalantly, "Meh, relax Eve. I'm fine. I've consumed bad souls before, but that one was just so evil it got me worse than the others. It makes me shudder to think what that human must have gone through in life to be so angry." He sadly shook his head, "Perhaps in my own way I did it a favor."

Umbreon sat down in thought. While she was extremely interested in the house, she had another question for him, "Haunter, why did it affect you so badly? I know it was a 'bad' soul but why would that matter? I thought Ghosts could consume any soul no matter the origin or size."

He let out a long sigh, "That's yet another misconception about my kind. I guess I can't blame you for not knowing, I never told you much about this because I know how uncomfortable my diet makes you. Well, since you asked, no, I can't consume any kind of soul. Depending on the size of the Ghost Pokémon, they can't absorb souls way bigger than them. It'll cause us to either spit them out, or in very rare cases the energy becomes too much and we can explode. That's just rumor though."  
The older Pokémon gestured around him with his hands, "We also can't consume ones with special hexes or protection spells around them. If we try to, the hex will destroy our physical form and we'll go into the 'other' realm." He used air quotes, "I'd rather not talk about the spirit world, thank you. Lastly, some of us have to get used to certain souls if we want to keep consuming them. For Ghost Pokémon that are relatively good, we have a hard time devouring really evil souls. I'm not saying I eat pure souls, as tempting as they are, but I eat average ones in my same 'range', okay? But the bad ones are hard to swallow."

She stared at him in concern, "Um, what happened if you kept eating bad ones?"

He groaned at the thought, "Other than a long era of indigestion? Well, I'd eventually get used to it, right after they corrupt my own soul. I'll become insatiable, demonic even. I'll want more and more souls, good and evil alike. This will go on until I eventually become feral, attacking anything living in sight. Sadly, to my knowledge, many wild Ghost Pokémon are like this. This urge can wear off with a lot of time and meditation, but if it still continues I would become feral permanently. Though there are many spirits in the Zoryn Cemetery, none of them have reached 'feral' state…yet."

He moved his slit eyes to her direction and realized she was staring at him in a hesitant expression. The thought that her old friend could get corrupted by something he lives off of was scary.

He quickly decided it was best to just start their adventure, "Look, I'll be fine. Don't worry; I'll never lose myself to that kind of torment. I promise."

He smiled at her warmly, which surprisingly reassured her and she smiled back.

Haunter scratched the back of his head awkwardly, "Anyway, enough about my food. Let's go to the scary house and explore while the night's still young!"

Now, back then as an Eevee she would have greatly hesitated going into a dark house, even if it was her friend asking her to go. Now that she was older and with him again, she was all the more eager and curious, "Sure! But remember, we have to be careful when we go in there."

She was curious, not stupid.

He nodded and eagerly took her right paw with his hand, "This is me we're talking about! We'll be fine!" he tugged at her paw as he started to float towards the trees, "Come on! We're burning moonlight here!"

She shivered at the feeling of her furry paw in his freezing cold hand. As he heartily dragged her through the forest and started yacking on and on about the house, she for the first time began to ponder what Haunters were made of. She knew they were gaseous, amorphous creatures in physical form, but what kind of skin did they have anyway? It wasn't smooth like a Poliwag's side, fine furred like her own, or hard like a Shellder's shell, but instead very cold and shifting. She could feel, the longer he held her paw, underneath the icy exterior the molecules of his skin were constantly shifting. It was solid, but still moved in a misty form. Though he could physically grab things now, there were the familiar traces of his ghostly haze as a Ghastly.

A gentle squeeze of her paw brought her out of her thoughts, "Umbreon?" Haunter asked warily, "You alright? You're being awfully quiet." He stopped floating and turned back to her, "Is there something wrong? Am I hurting you?" he tugged at her paw slightly to indicate his question.

She blinked a few times to clear her mind and looked down to her black paw still being held by his three fingered claw. She must have really zoned out because only now was she feeling the stinging numbness in her appendage. They must have been only walking for about ten minutes and her paw was already numb from being cold for so long, even with her fur.

Immediately, the pain hit her and she jumped, nearly pulling her paw out of his. He looked at her, his eyes dimming in what she knew was hurt. Slightly offended, but understanding, he said, "Eh, it's okay. I keep forgetting how cold we are." He let her paw go, "Sorry."

She nodded to him in acceptance of his apology, and they continued. She walked a few feet behind him, feeling a little bad. Her paw started to tingle as the feeling came back to it. How could she have not realized how cold it was before? The nerves started to get to her and the rings on her fur began to glow brightly.  
Haunter quivered and hissed, "Careful Eve! You know I don't like light!" he wasn't being harsh, but he was serious.

Umbreon realized the brightness and toned it down, giggling with embarrassment, "Hee-hee, sorry Haunter. They're hard to control sometimes."

He only cackled, "With those rings I bet you could be scarier than any Ghost in the graveyard!"

She smiled, happy that he was so chipper about it. Sometimes she was relieved by his constant, bizarre mood swings. It meshed nicely with her usual stubborn, relaxed melancholy.

After several more minutes, the full moon shined brightly on them through the canopy of the trees. She could see the shimmer of the moonlight hit her friends back and light it up like frosted glass. Why did it look like that? Was that a part of the misty skin or something? So weird…

These new questions abruptly ceased when he stopped moving suddenly in the air and she nearly ran into him. He floated backwards and gestured to a parting in the trees, "Through there." he said with a gleeful smile.

Umbreon walked past him and through the small opening in the trees, and there it was.

A very large, 3-story house stood before them in a big, spooky clearing. It was boarded up and the white paint on the wooden sides was chipping and flaking off. It looked very old indeed. How old though? 30-40 years in human standards?

He floated up next to her and stared at it, "Creepy huh? The exact kind of place I just love to explore!" while he giggled, Umbreon became hesitant. She was excited to go in, but now that she was there and looking at this abandoned building, it really was eerie.

Still, she pushed aside her reservations and instead forced a smile, "Yeah, looks fun. Uh, should we go in now?"

"Lets!" Haunter floated up to the door right away with Umbreon following. As she approached the rotting wooden stairs of the house's patio, she looked up to the boarded up door, "How are we going to get inside?"

Haunter floated in front of the blocked door and pondered for a few seconds. Getting an idea, he quickly said, "Wait here." And fazed through the door. Umbreon sarcastically rolled her eyes.

_Oh gee like I have any choice?_

After a few more seconds, she heard him suddenly shout, "Stand clear!" and the sound of energy charging.

Panicking, Umbreon jumped off the steps and hid behind the patio as the door suddenly flew off it's hinges and through the air. It hit the dark grass behind her and split into several pieces thanks to years of rotting.

Stunned, and then a little upset, Umbreon looked to the broken door and back to Haunter floating in the now open doorway, his claws holding the faint traces of dark energy of the aftermath of a Shadow Ball. Umbreon stood up and walked to him, slight anger twisted on her face.  
He knew she was mad even though she hadn't said a word and sheepishly grinned, "Sorry. You have no idea how much fun it is to use that on something."

She shook her head, "Actually I do. I'm a dark type remember? I know Shadow Ball and how powerful it is. So wasn't that overkill, Haunter?"

"Hey come on." He turned around and flew into the dark room, "I got the door open, didn't I? Geez, I swear you've become a fuddy-duddy, Eve."

She gawked at him. The nerve of him! She was not a fuddy-duddy! She was still fun!

Grumbling, she ignored her mild anger and followed him inside the house. It was extremely dark in there, the only light coming from the destroyed doorway, but thanks to their nocturnal eyes they were both able to see easily.

The place looked very old and neglected. Almost all the furniture had either been covered up with a dusty sheet or had been knocked over for whatever reason.  
Still, it was fascinating. Neither of them had ever been inside a human's home before, and traces of their scents were still there after all these years. As if boarding up the house preserved them somehow.

Umbreon was the first to start walking around and exploring while Haunter remained in the center of the room, admiring the flaking wallpaper, "What is this?" he asked, pulling at the paper until it tore off into a big strip. He dropped the paper and it floated smoothly to the ground. He cocked himself in the air, curious, "What's the point of putting paper on the wall? Why do you need it?"

"I'm not sure." Umbreon mumbled, pawing at a sheet until it flopped onto the ground to reveal a large old red chair. When the sheet hit the wooden floor, the dust flew up and caused her to cough and sneeze, "Oh man, this place really has been abandoned for years!" she sneezed a few more times and sniffled, "But…why? Why would they abandon a house and just leave it so furnished?"

"Who cares?" Haunter idly picked up a small wooden box in the corner and shook it, "Let the humans do what they want. What I'm more curious about is why the house was boarded up for no reason? What were they trying to keep out?"  
Umbreon pondered this while Haunter opened the box and peaked inside.

All he could see was it was filled to the brim with some strange plastic sheets covered with what looked to be air bubbles. Out of curiosity, he picked up one of the separate sheets(bubble wrap)and put the box down on a nearby covered table. He looked at the strange object and used his sharp index claw to pop one of the air bubbles. As expected, it made a small _pop_ noise that pleased him.  
The pop got Umbreons attention and she spun around to see Haunter eagerly popping some plastic bubbles on a sheet with both of his thumbs.

She smiled and sighed at her easily amused friend and continued looking around. Some objects on top of an uncovered table got her attention. The table was the only uncovered one in the room. So, like a cat, she sprung upwards and landed lightly on the wooden table to look at the objects.  
Umbreon was stunned to find several little, um what did humans call them? Uh…picture frames, that's it. There were five picture frames; three of them were face down on the table so she couldn't see them.

Now that was odd.

It looked like they weren't just laid on the table, but smashed down on the smooth surface. She could see tiny traces of glass here and there on the table, underneath the frames. Before she looked at those pictures, she turned her attention to the two undamaged ones. They were so dusty she had to use her paw to wipe the glass surface clean. Underneath one of the pictures was what looked to be human man with blond hair and green eyes affectionately holding a woman against him. She also had blond hair, but it was a few shades darker and her eyes were purple.  
They had nice, friendly faces and looked very happy to be together. A sensation of butterflies crossed the pit of her stomach as the stared at the couple. They were so tender towards each other…was that what it looked like to be in love?

These thoughts subsiding, Umbreon cleaned the other picture and could see it was a picture of the couple again. They looked slightly older and they were standing in front of the house back when it was new. It looked large and beautiful, far better than its current pitiful state.  
The man was carrying the woman with one arm under her legs and the other behind her back and she was smiling and laughing at the, erm, damn, she can't remember what the device humans used to create these pictures was called.

Anyway, she was laughing still and wearing a pretty, long white dress. The man was wearing a fitting, black suit. She had no idea what the occasion was, but if she had to guess it was important and it might have been the time they moved into the house.  
Now looking to the face down pictures, she pushed one upwards with her paw until it laid against the wall, and the first picture startled her. She inspected it closely and then hesitated to lift the other two. One at a time though, she slowly lifted them both up and against the wall like the first, and ws even more shocked than before.

"H-Haunter? Can you come here?" the ghost heard her call. He dropped the shredded bubble wrap and saw his friend sitting on a nearby table. She was looking at him with her wide red eyes and seemed visibly shaken. Concern crossing his amused face, he floated over to her, "What's wrong Umbreon?" The dark Pokémon pointed at three pictures she had laid against the wall opposite of her. She pointed at them with her paw, "Look at them. Just…look at them."

Not knowing what she could be so worried about, he floated closer and inspected the three pictures. Once his brain registered what he was looking at he backed away in the air, "Whoa."

The three frames had pictures that were all of the human family. The man and woman were in them, but so were two others. They were children, one a boy and the other a girl, both with blond hair. The boy had his mother's purple eyes, but the girl…they didn't know.  
What was scary was in each picture the girl's face had been viciously scratched out by what looked to be something large and skinny. It couldn't have been a glass shard, they were too wide. It looked like it was done with a huge needle or something.

One picture had the family in a group; the boy looked about 10 while the girl was just a baby and being held by her mother. The baby's face was scratched out. The other one had her as a child playing with her brother on the lawn, and her face was scratched out there too. The last one had her as a teenager with her father, her face horrible scratched out but this time more severely. Also, that picture was the only one that had two large puncture wounds that went through where her eyes were supposed to be.

What could have been the reason behind the hate of this picture butchering?

Uneasily, he floated backwards to his previous position, "Well that's weird." "Weird?" Umbreon gawked, "This is more than weird, it's downright spooky!"

"Relax Eve." Haunter reasoned, "Calm down, just…just leave them alone and go back to looking around. It will take your mind off of it."

Slowly, she decided it would be best to agree and hopped off of the table. Haunter went back to looking at the box, trying to ignore the eerie feeling crawling up and down his spine. He shook the box again and this time thought he heard something. Curious again, he turned the box upside down and poured out its contents.

A bunch of bubble wrap hit the floor, but so did something else.

Umbreon's ears perked. A weird noise echoed throughout the small living room. It was a strange, hollow noise, but also deep and frightening. Shortly afterwards a very distinct screech stung her eardrums.

Umbreon recoiled at the scream and twisted back around. She gasped when she saw Haunter floating there doubled over in pain with his hands clasped over his ears. He was shivering horribly and his eyes were squeezed shut. In front of him were what looked to be bells scattered on the floor. They were weird looking gold bells with purple, glowing carvings on them that were fading away. They must have made the noise when they hit the wooden floor, and the box they were in had been dropped not too far away. What was odd was the noise before didn't sound like a jingle to her, but more like a metal thump. She had no idea why they didn't ring.

Haunter suddenly screamed, "Make them stop! Ahhh make them stop!" Umbreon panicked and bounded towards him and in front of the bells, "Wh-what? Make them stop what?"

"That ringing!" he yelled, looking at her in desperation, "What? You don't hear that? It hurts!"

Umbreon looked from him back to the bells and reached forward to move them. Haunter quickly yelled at her, "No! Don't touch them! They're ring more!"

She was going to argue with him, but their glowing stopped and the markings disappeared altogether. Slowly and unsurely, Haunter removed his hands and looked at the bells in fright, like if they'd start ringing again.

Umbreon kept staring at the bells, "What are they Haunter? I didn't hear any ringing, just thumps."

Haunter snarled and pointed accusingly at the bells, "They're hexed! Some stupid human put a spell on them to repel ghosts!"

Umbreon cocked her head at them, "Really? Isn't that hard to do?"  
"Yes, putting a hex on something and giving it mystical abilities is a practice not shared by many. To my knowledge, sometimes humans used bells to either indicate when a ghost was there, or to repel them with pain. These are small, but are extremely affective. They're very dangerous…to me. I may not be a true ghost, but the effect is the same."  
He placed the box on top of them, "I have no idea what was going on here, but apparently these humans were messing with something they shouldn't have been." He growled very deeply, "Humans, sometimes even Pokémon, always try to screw around with things in the spirit world to achieve goals they can't achieve while living. Even I can't truly understand the other realm until I lose my physical form."  
Haunter turned scowled at the pictures, "What were you thinking? Wanna play with the dead did you? Fools."

Umbreon wanted to say something, but didn't. If humans really were messing with hexes, then that was a foul choice indeed.

He angrily floated away into the next room, "There are some things that should be left alone. In this world…and the next…"

Umbreon continued staring at the bells and thought about what he had said.

_Hexed bells? Butchered pictures? What could they have been doing here?_

She heard Haunter rummaging around in the other room, "Let's just forget it. They're gone now so nothing else should harm us. Just don't touch any bells, okay?" Umbreon couldn't help but laugh at that sentence, making the air less thick.  
Relaxing a little more, Umbreon set off into a different room than his. It led into a large hallway with a big staircase leading to the second floor. Behind her she heard, "Umbreon check this out!"

She turned and saw Haunter floating there with a sheet over his body and started wiggling his hands in a mocking way, "Ooh-ooooohhhh! I'm a ghost!" he pulled it off of himself and made a silly face, "Really!"

She laughed and he held the enormous sheet out, "This one's huge! I found this covering a big…eh, thingy in the other room!"  
"What thingy?" she giggled, pulling her attention away from the alluring staircase. He gestured for her to follow and went with him.

Neither of them noticed the presence at the top of the stairs…

He showed her into a big room full of weird looking…well…thingys. She had no idea what they were, but the biggest one he showed her was a large black dusty object with four legs and lined with black and white bars(piano). It kinda looked like a chair, but much larger and older, a little closer to resembling a table.

Haunter flew over and pointed at it, "Watch this!" he poked one of the white bars and it made a single, sour note. She winced, "Sounds off. What is it?"  
Haunter only shrugged and hit another note, "I'm not sure, but I think it's for making music." "That IS weird. Why would they use an object to create music instead of singing?"

He shrugged again and continued hitting the different keys, "These noises are irritating, but I bet if we could somehow fix it they wouldn't be so bad."

Umbreon weakly smiled as he tapped away at the keys, trying to find a sweet note. Perhaps he had a secret weakness for music she wasn't aware of yet.

And yet, she wasn't able to focus. She kept thinking about the stairway. The image was being flashed over and over in her mind, and she just had to go to it.

Umbreon looked behind her to the exit, "Hey, I'm going to go look around upstairs, okay?" "Alright." He lightly addressed, tapping another note, "I'll be there with you shortly."

She idly nodded and left him in the room. Umbreon walked into the hallway again and looked back to the stairs. They were empty and innocent enough, yet, something was ominous about them. For some reason, she felt a light sense of dread just standing before them.  
Still, she shook off her fear. How stupid it was to be afraid of stairs. They were just stairs! So, bravely, she made her way up the staircase, them creaking with her weight the whole way.

Once she reached the second floor, she looked around. It was a large, single hallway that had several doors. Each one was closed and there was what looked to be a hatch on the ceiling at the end of the hallway.  
Curiosity drawing her towards the hatch, she started to move to it.

As she walked down the hall, her glowing rings illuminated their surface. The yellow accented the chipping, cracking paint and made the shadows in the empty hall intensify. Though it was scary, she continued to move forward.  
As she walked, she noticed something even stranger than the hatch on the ceiling. One of the doors was open and she hadn't noticed it before.

Curiosity growing greater, Umbreon slinked to the end of the hallway, just underneath the hatch on the ceiling and to the open door. She peaked inside and was surprised to see a dark small pink room littered with destroyed plush toys. The plushies all had their throats ripped out and their eyes severly stabbed out with something sharp, once again like a needle. Stuffing, thread, toy limbs, glass eye beads and buttons were all over the floor in a huge mess. Did the girl do this to her own stuffed animals? If so, why?  
Other than the ruined toys, the room also had a stripped bed, a nightstand, and another picture frame on it.

A little wary after the last pictures she saw and the toys on the floor, she hopped onto the nightstand to look at this one. Unlike the others, this one only had the girl in it without her face being scratched out. She was also alone in this one and very young, maybe a toddler in human standards. She had blond hair and her father's green eyes.  
What made this one usual still was the doll she was holding. It looked like a stuffed grey bear. One of the eyes were already missing and replaced with a red button over where the right one was supposed to be.

_Children, so reckless with their toys._

There was something about the doll that was creepy though. It was like it wasn't just being affectionately hugged by the girl, but it was like it was STARING at you. Right through your very soul, in fact.  
Almost as if it was alive and watching you…even through the pictu-

A scent stopped her thought process and caused her to become alarmed. This scent, she had smelled it before on the night her mother died.

It was blood. Very old blood but the traces were still there even after all this time.

Slowly, she turned her attention to the bed and noticed something she hadn't before. A deep, dark brownish red stain was present all over the top of the mattress. It wasn't just a small amount either, but instead covered it! Like if someone had just lifted it and dipped the entire piece into a pool of blood!

The sudden shock made her nearly topple off the nightstand and shook her like nothing else. Suddenly apprehensive, she had the horrible urge to run out of the room and back down the stairs to Haunter, who STILL hadn't joined her.

_I swear if that idiot is still messing with that obj-_

_**THUMP!**_

The loud noise nearly made her jump into the ceiling. Spinning around, she saw just outside of the doorway was another torn up doll, tied and weighted down with a book. Looking up, she could barely see the edges of the hatch on the hallway ceiling, opened now.

Umbreon swallowed the lump in her throat, knowing full well it was NOT opened before.

She jumped off the nightstand and was ready to hightail it out of there until she noticed that there were small attic stairs leading down into the hallway now. She was going to continue down the hall, until she heard it.

Music filled the tiny hallway.

It wasn't from below, but in the attic, and it didn't sound like the object Haunter was messing with. It sounded tiny, pretty, and delicate. The sound was sweet and almost intoxicating to Umbreon's sensitive ears and it urged her to go upstairs.

She sighed and came to her senses. She was being silly! Being afraid of this stupid house!

Seriously, she was powerful, why should she be afraid?

Laughing her fears off, she made her way up into the attic. Besides, Haunter liked music. Maybe she could find the source and give it to him as a gift?

She was in a large dark room that was bended to coincide with the roof of the house. Not real special, nothing was in it except for more destroyed toys which were still odd. Then, there it was.

Laying there, just in the center of the floor was a little box with a spinning dancer in the middle of it, the sweet little melody playing as it spun. Fascinated by the device, Umbreon went towards it and batted at the little spinning dancer, and still the music hadn't stopped.

It was joyous, and filled her with happiness at listening to the cute music and watching the spinning dancer. Shortly, she started to hum along with it as her fear of the house began to dissolve.

That was…until she heard the very soft tapping of footsteps behind her.

Immediately, she felt a horrible chill crawl over her back. It stopped her in her tracks and made her petrified to turn around. Soon after, she heard the intruder speak in a deathly, muffled male voice, "Pretty, isn't it? It belonged to her…"

Terror was what made her spin around to face the speaker, and she became shocked over everything else.

The intruder was small, only about as tall as her, and stood on two stubby legs. The color of his skin was a dark, almost black, grey. It had large, slanted arms that hung lazily from his sides and he had a large, disproportionate head to go with his wide hips. He had three wide spike-shaped deformations from the top of his head and a long wave trail grew out of the back of his head, making it look hair or a tail. He had a mouth, but from what she could see it was zipped shut with a golden zipper, the edge hanging off the right corner of his mouth, so she had no idea how he just spoke to her.  
His left eye was red with a slit pupil and a white iris surrounding it and it glowed in the dark, making him more frightening. His right eye was roughly stitched up with a red button, and to him acted more like an 'eye patch' than anything else.  
What was really odd was the several, huge needles sticking out of his torso. She knew they weren't just spikes coming from this body, but that they were defiantly oversized sewing needles the size of daggers! Yet he wasn't injured or bleeding.

It was a Ghost Pokémon! She could smell it was at least, but something was wrong. It didn't feel…natural. Ghost Pokémon always had this uncertainty surrounding them, but at least they were still THERE and a majority of them were born and living…somewhat, but this thing wasn't…alive. It didn't feel dead, it just felt…evil, hateful, unnatural. Like it shouldn't even exist.

That button over his eye looked very familiar, and in that instant she knew the doll had it in the picture. Was this thing the girl's doll? If so, why was it…walking around and talking?

He could see the confusion on her face, and his zipped up smile only broadened, "I see you're new here, let me explain." As his smoke the mouth moved and tugged t the zipper, but still never opened, "That girl was my master, my owner, my beloved child. I loved her so much, I loved her a lot, and she loved me. I was her favorite doll you see, and that music box she would play for us whenever we had tea parties. It was the best thing in the world."

His voice was maniacal, but not in a funny way like Haunter's. No, his was more in a menacing, insane way.

Just like she predicted, his calm demeanor changed in a millisecond and his horrid eye narrowed, fabric pulling harshly, "And what did that disgusting little wretch do? When she became a teenager, she threw me out! She threw me out and abandoned me! But not the others! She didn't abandon the others! Why did she abandon me! Me? ME? I was her favorite! Hers! She was mine! All mine! And yet she threw me away and kept them!" he pointed to the destroyed toys around them, "And when I destroyed these she would have abandoned them to! KILLED THEM! LIKE ME! ME!"

He started screaming, and Umbreon got in a defensive pose.

_This guy's crazy!_

The Pokémon then broke into a loud laugh that echoed the attic. When it died down, he evily smirked at her, "You won't leave, no one ever leaves. They stay with me, forever. Just like she will stay with me forever inside! Forever and ever! **FOREVER!**"

Umbreon was about to attack, but he was first. His eye narrowed and his face horribly twisted in ways she couldn't imagine. The image shocked her and floored her to the ground. Though she wasn't paralyzed and she could move, she felt the irresistible urge to stay and not run.

Shaking, she sputtered as his face became normal, "Wh-what did you do to me?"

"I used Mean Look on you, duh." He snidely answered, reaching into the air and pulling a needle out of nothingness, "Now, Umbreon." He called her, evil growing gleefully on his face, "Let's see what kind of curse I can place on you, hmmn? How about something that lets your organs fall out one by one? That will be fun, and I get to see your stuffing too! Oh the joy!" he lifted the needle higher, "Or perhaps I'll turn you into a doll and rip your stuffing out then? That will be fun too!"

Umbreon eyed the needle and became chilled.

_It was he who butchered those pictures of the girl! She was a teen when she threw him away so that was why it was worse than the others!_

He lifted the needle higher up, ready to stab it in himself like the others and curse her somehow. She backed away, knowing full well she couldn't run.

_OH NO!_

* * *

_Uh oh! Looks like she's in a bit of trouble!_

_Can anyone guess the Pokemon before you read the next Chapter? You'll get another cookie if you do! I was going to add the fight in here, but I realized how long this was already and knew that take another few pages. X_X_

_R&R please!  
_


	10. Voodoo Doll

_This one's long, but not as bad as the other. :D  
_

* * *

_Chapter 10: Voodoo Doll_

Haunter had finally given up on the sour sounding instrument and decided to go upstairs to meet Umbreon. Before he did though, he got a horrible chill that rocked him. He knew that chill anywhere. It meant that there was another of his kind there!  
He jerked upwards and could sense the presence upstairs where Umbreon said she'd be exploring the house. Could she have found a Ghost Pokémon up there?

And if that was the case and it was alone with Umbreon-

_EVE!_

Knowing full well that not all Ghost Pokémon were as friendly as he, Haunter flew up as fast as he could and fazed through the floors.

Umbreon was still in place after the strange doll's Mean Look, and watched as he raised his needle to use a Curse on her, whatever that was.

She was about to use Psychic in an attempt to stop him when Haunter suddenly fazed through the floor behind the doll. The Pokémon spun around and was batted away by her friend, sending him flying harsly into the wooden wall nearby.  
Haunter seemed to do a double take at the doll and yelled, "Oh no! Not one of you!" he darted his eyes downwards when the doll's needle hit the floor. The ghost immediately grabbed it and with one hand broke it in half. The needle glowed blue and turn into mist, evaporating away in an instant.

The doll hopped to his feet, the impact seemingly having no affect on him, and screamed in anger at the loss of his needle.

Haunter floated protectively in front of Umbreon, who was starting to shake off whatever hold the doll Pokémon had on her before. He glanced behind him without turning completely around, "You okay? How many Curses did he use?"  
She shook her head, the attack wearing off completely now, and answered, "None, you stopped him before he stabbed himself with that needle."  
"Good." He looked back to the doll who had positioned himself before them now, looking quite pissed. Umbreon just started at him, "Haunter, what the heck is that thing?" "No time to explain!" Haunter hissed as the living doll's real eye narrowed at them, "Just know we have to get away from it as quickly as possible!"

The Voodoo doll screamed again and pointed to Haunter, "You! You must have been the one that awoken me from my slumber!" his zipped up mouth frowned horribly.

Haunter's eyes glared him down, "Back off rag doll!" he hissed, "Unless you want a world of pain I suggest you leave her alone."

The doll seemed to ignore his threat completely and just continued his yelling, "No matter! You will pay! And then you will stay! You will both stay! Just like she did! Forever and ever!"  
His hands started to glow with a black aura and pulse with energy, "No one will ever abandon me again!" the tips of his nubby fingers suddenly grew into four devastating claws.

The Pokémon jumped towards them and attempted to use Shadow Claw. Haunter knew what was coming and put his hands together. Pulling them apart quickly, he hurled a Shadow Ball at the insane doll. It hit him in the torso and caused him to fly backwards in the air and hit the ground.  
The actual impact of the floor didn't seem to have affect, but Haunter's Shadow Ball did since he was still a Ghost Pokémon.

The doll groaned and began to roll to his feet. Haunter turned around and tried to pick Umbreon up so they could escape, but suddenly the doll jumped on his head and latched on. In surprise, the ghost yelped and started trying to tug the smaller Pokémon off, but he wouldn't let go. To their horror, he pulled yet another needle from the air.  
Haunter panicked and started flailing his hands in the air at Umbreon, "Eve! Get it off! Get it off fast!"

Concentrating, Umbreon squinted and used a Psy Beam against the pesky toy. It cried out when it hit him and kept yelling as the psychic attack had a great affect on him. In weariness, the needle disappeared in the air and he let go of Haunter, falling to the floor in front of him and between the two.

Having just about enough, Haunter growled at the dazed doll. If he killed the stupid thing right now it might just scare Eve, so he decided to paralyze him. He quickly opened his mouth and attempted to lick him. Even if he was a possessed doll, he was still a Pokémon and it would have an effect big enough to stun him for several hours.

But that was exactly what their attacker wanted because as soon as Haunter extended his tongue towards him he teleported out of the way. Haunter was too close to stop himself from licking Umbreon in the face.

He realized what he did and pulled away, but he was too late. Umbreon started to shiver as every muscle in her body locked. It was like nothing she had felt before, and she really didn't like it. Other than the embarrassment of getting licked by her best friend, now she could barely move. She couldn't stop convulsing either. It was like her muscles and limbs had a mind of their own.

Haunter put both of his hands to his mouth, "Oh no! Eve I'm sorry! I didn't mean to!"

She glared at him, or the best she could with all the shivering, "H-haunter y-you-" she slowly fell onto her side and laid there as all her energy left her, "i-idiot!"

He would have probably laughed at the stupidity of the situation if their lives weren't in danger.

He heard the toy's horrible cackling behind him and then in front of him when he teleported between them, "Oopsie Ghostie!" he mocked, "Looks like you made a boo-boo!" Haunter growled at him as the plush turned its head slightly to turn to Umbreon, "Curiouser and curiouser, what in the world is a ghost doing with one of the living, hmmn?" he didn't move his body but his one working eye did and looked back to Haunter, who was getting angrier, "What could this fleshy thing mean to you anyway?"

He reached out and ran his hand against Umbreon's head. She shivered from his dreadful touch. He was cold like Haunter, but she could feel that his skin was made of rough, burlap fabric.

Haunter snarled, "Don't you dare touch her!"

The doll smiled at him, seemingly amused at his anger, "Ah, so that's it. I can see it inside you now, those dark desperate feelings. You're just _begging_ to not see someone you care about getting hurt." Haunter was ready to blow his top and it only made the doll smile more ghoulishly, "Well ain't you two an adorable couple. You know if you wanted a meat sack for a mate I'm sure you could do better than this."

Umbreon's face turned a little red and she could have sworn Haunter's turned a darker shade of purple.

That was the final straw.

Haunter's hands glowing with dark energy, he lashed out and tried to use Shadow Claw. Once again though he fell into the doll's trap and it just faced him completely and whispered, "_Spite…"_

The ghost froze in the air and plopped to the ground as his opponent's attack took hold. Taking his chance, the doll rammed its head into his body before he had time to faze through. Haunter gasped as all the wind was knocked out of him and he was thrown back a few feet from them both. The doll was a lot stronger than it looked.

He hit the ground again and tried to get up, but the Spite move had drained his energy. He could probably get a few moves in or one powerful one, but he doubted he'd be fast enough for them to have an effect.

The doll gleefully laughed and bounced up and down, "Oh goodie-goodie! Now you're both frozen! How fun indeed!" he clapped his hands together and spun.

Haunter just growled at the thing, wanting to rip the stupid doll's face off.

The doll stopped spinning and sighed, "Sadly, I have to kill you both and trap you here now. It's too bad we couldn't play. I throw some great tea parties." He pulled another needle from the air, "Now, where was I?"

He looked to Haunter, who glared at him without fear, "Defiant are we? You're incredibly annoying so I think I'll go with you first."

The doll started to move towards Haunter and it made Umbreon panic, "No! L-leave him al-alone!"

He surprisingly froze in his tracks and teleported in front of Umbreon, "So you're volunteering? Good. I was going to go with you first anyway. I just wanted to hear you scream." He said with a sadistic smirk. Umbreon tensed through her paralyzed muscles as he raised the needle, "Eh he, scared? Don't worry, this will hurt me just as much as it hurts you."

Haunted watched the toy's back as he raised the needle upwards yet again.

_NO!_

There had to be something! Anything he could do to make him stop! The doll was too powerful in their weakened state. Haunter had to do something to weaken his health substantially before he killed them both!

The doll was just pushing the needle inside of his stomach when he felt a pulse of energy behind him. He spun around and his eye widened in surprise at Haunter. The ghost had just enough energy to summon an ethereal mallet and railroad spike from the air, "You're not the only one that can place curses!" he placed the tip of the spike on his own forehead and raised the mallet high with the other.

Hissing and horrified, the toy dropped his needle, "You wouldn't _dare_!"

Not replying but giving a triumphant smile, Haunter smashed the ethereal spike into his head with two hard swings.

Umbreon watched as he did so and screamed in a huge amount of pain. Like the needle had, the mallet and the spike in his forehead disappeared, but the wound was still present. She could see even in the darkness Haunter clutch his pierced forehead and what looked to be thick black ooze seep from between his fingers and onto the floor, making the wood hiss and age.

It chilled her.

_Ghost Pokémon…can't bleed! They're not supposed to be able to bleed!_

Suddenly the doll screamed and dropped the needle as his health drained from Haunter's Curse. A hole in his own forehead appeared and he felt the pain of a railroad spike being nailed into it. It wasn't as much pain as Haunter was feeling, but it still hurt! The ooze dribbled down from his own forehead too, just like Haunter's.

Umbreon could sense he was greatly weakened, and from behind the screaming doll he could see Haunter stare at her in pain. Though he was horribly weakened himself, he called out to her, "Umbreon! Do it now!"

Do what? She can't even stop shaking!  
She didn't have time to ask what he meant as the doll turned back to her, "I may be weaker but I still have enough energy to kill you!"

At that moment she knew she didn't need to ask. She squeezed her eyes shut and her rings began to glow brighter. Haunter knew what was coming and closed his own eyes tightly.

The doll couldn't run away as Umbreon used Flash on him, blinding his sensitive ghost eye, "LIGHT!" he screamed, stumbling around as he put both hands over his eyes, despite only this real one being blinded, "I can't see!"

She knew it was her chance, now or never.

Despite barely being able to move, she managed to wobble to her feet. Though her locked muscles screamed in protest, she forced herself to hurl her body forward at the doll. She may not have the strength to use a Psychic or Dark attack, but she had enough to use a physical!

She ran to the doll's side and used Cut to cripple him. She miscalculated the strength of his fabric though and accidently took his whole right arm off at the shoulder.

Umbreon tripped from the loss of energy again and crashed onto the ground as the doll's severed arm hit the floor next to her. She jumped and wiggled away from it in horror, but was stunned to see no blood or bone. Just stuffing coming out from the end of the limb, just like a real stuffed plush.

They both looked up to the doll in fear of how he would react.  
However, instead of screaming or crying in pain at the severed arm, once his vision returned he looked down at his appendage on the ground as more of an annoyance.

He frowned and didn't say a thing for a couple of seconds as he switched glances from his body to the severed arm.

Finally, he looked back up to the two and gave a ghastly smile, "You shouldn't have done that." He knew he could no longer fight, so now it was time to go.

He reached up with his only arm and grabbed the zipper end at the corner of his mouth. Slowly, he began to unzip it and red haze was starting to float in the air.

Umbreon had no idea what he was doing but Haunter jumped, "Oh crap!" with the little energy he had left, he flew to Umbreon and scooped her up in his cold hands and fled out of the attic. As he flew through the house to get out, Umbreon saw a burst of red fog erupt from the attic.

The two made it safely outside and Haunter kept fleeing back into the woods where they came. The red fog broke through one of the boarded up windows and floated away into the air, disappearing completely. Still, Haunter kept taking her back into the woods and as far away as he could from that house.

Once it was out of sight, his adrenaline wore off along with his energy.

Haunter stopped fleeing into the forest and instead toppled over with Eve still in his claws. He practically fell on top of her, but he lifted himself so she could roll away and to his side on the cool grass. The two panted and said nothing to each other for a long while, trying to catch their breath and let their energy return.

Very slowly, Umbreon leaned upwards to look at Haunter, "Are you going to tell me what that thing was now?"

He rolled over on his back so he could look at her tiredly, "That was a Banette. A very dangerous Ghost Pokémon that is attracted to and lives off of hatred. Full of anger, they possess Children's abandoned dolls and forever wander around for them. If I had to guess that one possessed the doll as a Shuppet, but evolved into a Banette when she threw him out. Then tracked her down and killed her in revenge. At the end of the battle he knew he couldn't win, so the coward unzipped his mouth and unleashed his evil life force to go seek out another body. Don't worry, Banettes are shallow-minded and he'll just go back to the house, he won't come after us. Their life force is poisonous to the living though, so I had to get you out of there as soon as I saw the red haze."

Umbreon shivered when she remembered the blood stained mattress, "How could something have had so much hatred?"

"They're attracted to hatred." He weakly wheezed and looked to the moon, "Thing is we still don't know what they were doing in that house to cause a Shuppet to arrive. It must have been pretty awful."  
He weakly lifted his hand up and put the back of it on his forehead, "I'm sorry I took you into that horrible place. It's my fault he woke up too. I was the one who spilled the bells on the floor…"

"Haunter, shut up." She rolled over enough to face him better, "It wasn't your fault. You didn't know-"  
"But I SHOULD have known, Eve." He insisted, "I should have sensed him when we first walked inside or when I dropped those stupid bells. I was just too distracted, damn it. I'm so sorry."

"Like I said, shut up." She managed to chuckle, "It wasn't your fault, okay? Hey, I should have been more careful and seen that ambush coming too. If it means anything though, thanks. I could have been in real trouble there and you once again came to my rescue."

He smiled at her, "Heh, it was nothing, you know. You helped me out too, after all." He twisted around on his side so that he was facing her again, his eyes sincere, "So thank you. Give yourself a little more credit will you?"

She flushed a little bit at his gaze, "Uh huh…right." She remembered suddenly what the Banette said to them, "Em, Haunter, what do you think that bit was about the mate-" "Forget it." He found himself insisting, "He just assumed that and was crazy. We just shouldn't listen to anything he says."

Umbreon's eyes dimmed slightly in disappointment, "Oh, okay. Right, he was just crazy."

Haunter didn't show it, but he regretted his words. Internally, very deep down, he knew the Banette had rocked his emotions spot on. He could sense how much he cared for Umbreon.

What was strange was…could the Banette sense Umbreon's feelings too? Could she…feel the same way?

He mentally frowned.

_No way. She could never love a ghost._

Umbreon twisted a bit and whimpered. Haunter's eyes widened, "What is it?" "Relax." She giggled, "Eh, I'm just still paralyzed. This must be a funny sight. I mean come on; we're both so weak we can't even stand!"

He laughed, and winced, "Ow ooh ow, okay the Curse still stings." He rubbed the wound on his forehead, which finally faded away all together and disappeared. He started wiping away the black ooze, "Finally, geeze."

Umbreon only stared at the blood and muttered, "I didn't know you could use Curses, and bleed."

He weakly wiped his hand on the grass, "Of course we can, and so can others. Ghosts are the only ones that can use THESE kinds of Curses though. You use a Curse move on yourself, and it's devastating but you also inflict it on your opponent. It's effective, but very, very painful so we tend not to use it. Well, except Banettes. They're just Curse happy." He pointed to the dark smear he left on the grass, "This black stuff isn't blood, it's discharge from the spell. Sorry if it scared you."

Umbreon lightly laughed, her worry finally fading, "It's alright. I'm just glad it wasn't permanent."

"Me too. I rather like my good looks." He joked and looked back to her, "Well, what do we do now? We can barely move and your home is too far. I think I can float and carry you there though."

"Don't, it will only strain you to go all the way back to my burrow." Umbreon tried to stand but the paralysis from Haunter's Lick attack still held her muscles down. At least she stopped convulsing, "Eh, but the Zoryn Cemetery isn't that far. Can you manage to drag me there and let me sleep in the tower for tonight? Once my energy's back I'll leave."

He jolted, a little stunned by her request. She's never slept over at the tower, not even after all the years he's known her. Well, okay she has once but that was when he forced Hypnosis on her.

Softly, he answered, "Oh course you can Umbreon. Don't ever feel like you're a burden to me. I like having you around." He smiled at her and she flushed again, but luckily her black fur continued to hide the light blushing, "Thank you. That's very considerate."

Haunter smiled at her again, but knew they had to move before the sun came up.  
He tore his eyes from her and turned so that he was lying on his back again, "Okay, here I go." He took a deep breath and with weak energy but high determination driving him, Haunter pulled himself upwards so that he was floating in the air again. He faltered a bit and huffed in weakness, but bit it back to help Eve.  
He turned to Umbreon and picked her up with his hands, but immediately slumped them down, "Ugh, I can't carry you with my hands. Lifting is just too much…"

Still, he was not going to give up that easily.  
Haunter picked Umbreon up again, his hands shaking from exhaustion, "I'll have to put you up here." He lifted her up and placed her so that she was laying limply on him, her front arms and chin resting on his forehead and the rest of her body against his back. He also tilted himself slightly to keep her from sliding off.  
He could feel Umbreon's already tight, paralyzed muscles contract even more when her body hit his. She grinded her teeth to keep from yelping in pain from the cold and her fine fur stood up.

Haunter sighed, "Sorry. I know this is cold but I promise I'll get you there as fast as I can. Besides, this might be good for your sore muscles. Just relax as best you can."

Though her tendons protested, Umbreon let herself lay still on him as he began to gently float through the forest. She closed her eyes and ignored his icy skin. Instead, she tried to simply focus on the night air or the gentle up and down motion Haunter made when he hovered. She was surprised how calming it was and how it reminded her of when she was a baby Eevee. When she and Espeon lived with her father, she used to love lying on a flat rock in the ocean and listening to the waves crash against the sides.  
It was the most serene she's ever felt.

Haunter dragged his hands on the grass, the small amount of energy he had gained draining away again bit by bit as they floated through the forest. He didn't care though. It was his fault Umbreon was paralyzed so he had to be the one to take her back to the tower.  
At least she seemed to be calmer now. He could feel her muscles starting to loosen up and her breathing slow to a steady rate. She was so warm against his back, and it was almost comforting to him. He looked up slightly to her, but he could only see her paws.

Personally, he was glad to spend more time with her. He wasn't kidding; he really did like her company. He always felt her calmer demeanor meshed nicely with his playfulness. It's just too bad she wasn't spending the night under better circumstances.

The way back was silent, but that was just because they were both too worn out to do anything about it.

After several more minutes, they arrived at the gates of the Cemetery. After carefully sliding through the bars, Haunter didn't bother going up the stairs and just flew up to the top entrance. Eve got a little nervous at going high up, but she knew he wouldn't drop her.

Once he was at the top, he gently picked Umbreon up off his head and laid her on the floor where he had put fresh rags just for her. In fact, they weren't all rags. Some of them were very soft sheets and blankets. She looked at the blankets she was laying on and started at him accusingly.  
Haunter gave the most innocent smile he could muster, "What? Well, the Humans shouldn't have been doing their laundry so far from their town, eh? The sheets just looked way too soft and tempting."

She sighed at his thievery but was in no mood to lecture. Instead, she all the way down on them, "Thanks anyway."

"Yes, well…" he scratched the back of his head, "You're welcome."

She smiled at him and moved her red eyes to look at his. Those nice, pretty red eyes.

He admitted he missed her brown ones, but the red ones were beautiful too. It went well with her fur-

_Knock it off!_

His subconscious screamed at him. He shook off his admiration and focused. He knew it was impossible for her to ever see him like he did her. Heck, he was deeply ashamed of his own feelings.

"Haunter?" her voice caused him to blink and shake his thoughts away, "Y-yes?"

Eve rolled slightly, "You know, despite being paralyzed and nearly trapped by a killer Voodoo Doll, this was a fun night. I was glad to have spent it with you."

His heart nearly jumped into his throat.

Was that…tenderness he sensed in her voice? Was it really possible she saw him as more than just friends?

Eve closed her eyes and drifted off into a deep sleep.

He had no idea of the signals he was getting, but it was just confusing him. Nevertheless, he felt overjoyed at the small amount of affection she was showing him. Perhaps this night wasn't a total disaster after all.

Now, normally, he would sleep for most of the day until sunset, but with more than half of his health drained, recovered, and then his energy in its minority, he could barely afford to float.

So instead, he flew up into some of the wooden rafters above her and cozied in his little makeshift bed that consisted of a few blankets. It didn't make him warmer, but he liked the softness.

Once he was comfortable, he let himself fall to sleep for the first time at night.

* * *

"Ugh, finally I can move again." Umbreon stretched as the sun was setting. Haunter floated near her and smiled, "Great. I was starting to get worried that I did significant damage to you."

Umbreon laughed slightly. It had been a very slow day. Her paralysis had dragged on for the entire afternoon and into the evening. Her limbs were still sore and tingled a bit, but at least she could move them without a lot of pain.  
Haunter had been surprisingly responsible and doting towards her. The entire day he had brought her more food and water than was necessary. She kept insisting she was fine but he didn't seem to hear her. At first the attention was really uncomfortable, but after a while she started to sorta of like his kindness. Didn't mean it wasn't weird.

Now that she was walking hopefully things would be back to normal.

She stretched again and looked to him, "Thanks again Haunter. You really didn't need to go through so much troub-"  
He raised a hand to stop her, "Remember what I said Eve. You're never a burden to me, and it was my fault anyway. Helping you recover was the least I could do after all."

Umbreon ducked her head a bit away from him, and he kept wondering why she did that. Was it an Umbreon's way of showing bashfulness? Well that was weird…yet kinda adorable.

She really was acting strange.

_What is with Haunter?_

Eve kept wondering. He was always a nice guy, but ever since she came back a few nights ago he's been acting odd. The way he was looking at her was a lot different than when they were kids. He couldn't possibly be feeling the same way, could he?

_Nah, this is Haunter I'm talking about._

Still, the silence was extremely awkward. Lucky for both of them, a loud squeaking noise brought them out of the stalemate.

They turned and looked out from the tower to see what looked to be three Humans just outside the gates pushing a large metal box with rails and wheels along, like some kind of cargo.

Haunter began to snicker, "Ooh boy! Would you lookie there!" his tone had become silly and playfully obnoxious once again, "Looks like we have some victims!"

Umbreon smiled, knowing exactly what Haunter meant by 'victims', "I don't know buddy. They look like they're just passing through."

"Then let's give them something to remember!" he looked to her but then his goofy expression dimmed, "Um, if you're up to it, you know after everything."

"Pfft, you're not doing this all by yourself, you dummy." She playfully shoved him with her paw, "Let's go scare some humans. Heck, I need something to cheer me up anyway."

Gleeful, Haunter spun around in the air and flew right down the stairs. Laughing with him, she followed soon after, though a little slower because of her soreness.

The two went as fast as they could up to the metal gates without being seen. By now, the sun had set and the skies were a darkening shade of purple.

The two hid behind one of the larger tombstones at the entrance. Lucky for them, the three humans had stopped walking and stood in front of the gates, apparently taking a break.  
There were two men and one woman. They were dressed in dark grey uniforms with long black boots and matching gloves that reached their elbows. It was an odd get up, but they could both care less.  
That is until one of the men turned and they saw a big red 'R' symbol on the front of his uniform. Haunter knew what an 'R' was thanks to the warning from that Gengar, "You see that Eve?"

"Uh huh." She said cautiously, "The 'R' symbol just like you said. Should we mess with them then?"

"Duh." Haunter scowled, "We have a bigger reason now more than ever to take care of these Pokémon abusers." He smiled ghoulishly, "In fact, we should take their cargo."

Umbreon looked to him, "Um, isn't that a little harsh? Stealing the humans' cargo?"

"No way. If it belongs to those strange 'R' people then it can't be anything good." Haunter growled, his hatred for the 'R' people apparent.

She could feel his rage and echoed it. If these humans really were responsible for hurting Pokémon then they deserved to get a good scare.  
Besides, it wasn't like they were going to get hurt. They were just gonna have a little fun.

The woman with green hair walked to the gates and looked inside, "Look at that spooky place. What does the boss want with it anyway?"

"Who cares, Jane." The man with orange air snidely replied while wiping his face and sitting on the ground, "As long as he keeps payin' it doesn't matter, right?"  
"Not all of us are as simple minded as you, Roy." The other man with the blue hair pushed Roy in the head and sat next to him on the grass, "After all the trouble we went through to get this thing I sure as hell wanna know what he wants with it."  
"Come on Marco." The woman turned her back to them and faced them both, "Let's just stop sitting around here like idiots and get it to him already. Last thing I want to do is skulk around in the woods all night. It was hard enough going around that stupid town already."

The other two seemed frustrated to have to move already, but they complied and stood up, "Why so soon Jane?" Roy teased, "Scared?"

"No." she insisted while rubbing her shoulders, "I just feel uncomfortable. Like something's watching me, you know?"

Haunter sensed that was the perfect opportunity. He nudged Eve with his hand, "Watch THIS." He turned invisible and she had no idea where he was anymore.

She didn't have to ponder for long because suddenly Jane began to scream and tug at the invisible hands around her waist. The two men snapped their attention to her, "Wh-what is it! What's wrong?" Marco shouted, looking at Jane in bewilderment and horror.

"Something's got me!" she screamed, tugging at the hands more. Haunter was much stronger and began to float upwards with her. She started to yell more as Marco and Roy stupidly watched, "Don't just sit there!" she scolded, kicking and tugging the higher she went, "Get me down now!"

Roy jumped and began tugging at her legs to get her down from the unknown force, but as a result he just ended up floating too.

Now they were both panicking and Marco just stood underneath them.

Umbreon had to keep from bursting into uncontrollable laughter at the sight.

All of the sudden, Haunter let Jane go and the two humans both clumsily fell on top of Marco in a heavy clump. It wasn't enough to hurt them, but it was funny!

Haunter laughed loudly, but remained invisible. The humans heard his laughs and Roy wiggled from underneath Jane, "It's a Haunter!"

He jumped pulled himself out of the tangled group and stumbled to his feet, pissed, "Show yourself you stupid ghost!"

Haunter laughed only louder at his pathetic attempts. Roy scowled and pulled one of the Pokéballs from his belt, "You think that's funny! Huh! Well let's see how funny it is when you take a Psy beam to the face!" he held his Pokéball up, "Go Alakaz-" he didn't finish his sentence or his toss when he felt something cold grip his hand. At that moment Haunter reappeared in front of him, clutching the hand that held his Pokéball tight.  
A tinge of blue crossed Roy's face as terror hit him hard. Haunter smiled and showed all of his sharp teeth as he screamed at Roy. The human did a very girly scream as he pulled out of Haunter's grasp and went flailing to the ground, the Pokéball still in his hand.

Haunter laughed harder, and now Umbreon wanted to join the fun.

Jane and Marco finally pulled themselves free from each other, but when they looked up they were met with Umbreon's bright red eyes. She hissed her unusually long canines at them and flashed her yellow rings brightly.

Completely caught off guard, they both jumped up and stumbled backwards into Roy, knocking the wind out of him with their combined weight. Umbreon laughed loudly right along with Haunter at the quivering humans.

Marco grumbled and tried to pick himself up, "What's with everyone! Come on it's just an Umbreon! They can't eat us remember?"

Umbreon frowned and decided to really spook him. She ran to the group and bit the man's arm. Not quit hard enough to break the skin, but it defiantly hurt enough to cause an imprint.

Foolishly, he cried out and shook her off, "Good god it must be insane! I probably got an infection!" The other two stood and helped a panicking Marco to his feet, but they cowered at the approaching Haunter and Umbreon coming at them. The snarling Umbreon with her glowing markings and blood red eyes looked ready to murder, and the Haunter stared at them like it was bent on eating their souls!

They huddled together in fear at what they were going to do to them.

Ready to scare them once and for all, Haunter pulled the corners of his mouth down with his fingers and screamed, "BOOGA BOOGA BOOGA!"

The group didn't understand him though and took it as a threat. The cowards went screaming into the forest, truly believing they were going to kill them. Jane screamed as they ran, "No package is worth this!"

Once they were in the trees and most likely waking every single Pokémon from their slumber, Haunter and Umbreon looked at each other and broke into insane laughter.  
How fun that was! Humans had way better reactions than young Pokémon ever did! Haunter was laughing so hard he started clutching his gut while Umbreon fell onto her back.

Finally gaining their composure, the two stopped laughing but kept giggling.

Still snickering, Umbreon rolled back onto her chest to face him, "That was great! Haha! Did you see them! They really thought we were gonna eat them! Oh man great job with the invisibility!"

"Yeah right!" Haunter howled, smacking her back, "You were the one that made that man believe you were out for blood!" he put his hands to his face in a mocking manner and squealing, "Eeek! It must be insane! I probably have an infection! Ah ha ha ha!"

They continued to mock their victims until Umbreon turned to acknowledge the strange metal container they stole from them, "So, what do you think is in there?"

"How the heck should I know?" Haunter sneered, floating over and gripping the metal lid tightly, "So lets find out!" Umbreon continued to giggle as Haunter tugged at the metal lid until it popped off.

He was still smiling as he peaked inside, but then it was wiped from his face into one of complete shock.

She stopped laughing when he looked to her, dead serious, "Uh, Eve? We…might have a problem. Like, a really big one."

Umbreon felt dread creep up but tried to shake it off, "Eh, come on. Wh-what is it?"

Haunter reached inside the container and pulled out the object inside and held it out to her. Once she realized what she was holding her mouth dropped open, "Oh…no…"

* * *

_Heh, I'm probably evil for having this end of a Cliffhanger, ain't I? And yes, there is a reason their Team Rocket suits are dark grey instead of white or purple. You'll find out later. XD_

_So...what's in the box? :P_


	11. Reluctant Feelings

_Ugh, I apologize how long this one took but I was busy on Deviantart. XD  
_

_Anywhoo, on with the story!  
_

* * *

_Chapter 11: Reluctant Feelings_

There, in his sharp purple claws, was a green and white Pokémon egg. The colors were split horizontally. The top part was the light green and the bottom half was white.  
Barely bigger than his hands, the beautiful egg shined dimly as the light from the sky faded away into darkness. Judging by the pulses and light pheromones the egg was giving off, it was going to hatch very soon.

Umbreon was in complete shock, as was Haunter until he finally spoke, "Wh-what is it? What Pokémon laid this?!"

"I have no idea." Umbreon cocked her head in fascination at the egg, "It doesn't matter. Oh man Haunter we're in trouble! We didn't just steal cargo from Humans, we stole an egg!"

Haunter carefully clutched it, "No no, come on let's not panic."  
"Don't panic?!" Umbreon yelled, "How can we not panic! This is somebody else's egg and we stole it-" "We didn't steal it!" he interrupted, "We rescued it. We both know the 'R' people were Pokémon abusers. I have a hunch that THEY stole it! What would have happened if they kept it for experiments? I guess it was just luck we found it."

He looked down to the tiny egg with sadness.

Umbreon's expression softened, reality dawning, "….You might be right." Her eyes focused on the egg in his hands, "What kind of monsters would torture a baby?"

Haunter sighed as an answer and cradled the egg against his chest, "Poor thing, all lonesome without its parents." He looked at her with sympathy, "It's like us now, huh?"

Umbreon didn't answer as he started to put it back in the container, but she did object, "What do you think you're doing?!"

He stopped and looked to her, "Um, putting it back?"

"You can't just put it back!" Umbreon ran to him and stopped just a few feet, "It might die!"

"Well we can't take care of it!" he insisted, cradling the egg against his chest again, "We don't even know what kind of Pokémon this is! What if it's dangerous and likes to eat flesh and ghosts?!"

"You're being silly." Umbreon's brow furrowed, "It's not going to be that dangerous as a baby and you know it. We have to take care of it!"

"Are you nuts Eve?!" he glared at her, "We aren't parents! We aren't even a couple! How do you expect us to take care of a baby! I don't even know how to raise a youngling, remember? Ghost Pokémon abandon their babies when they're born!"

Umbreon rolled her eyes. He was being ridiculous, "Haunter listen to me! You know that there are several Pokémon in these woods that are egg eaters! If they get their hands on this baby before it hatches you know it will die! Besides, even if it survives until it hatches inside the box, what then? It will be alone and scared, and then either starve to death or get eaten by a bigger Pokémon. Do you really want the blood of an innocent Pokémon baby on your hands?"

"I…" he became stumped.

Slowly, he looked down to the egg he cradled against his chest. As he held it against him, he could feel it. The small, steady pulsing of a tiny heartbeat. It made him quiver at the delicate life he was holding. It was so vulnerable and alone, there was no way he could ever forgive himself if he turned his back on something so small.

Eve's sighing got his attention, "Look, I know you're scared. I am too. Even though we raise our young by instinct, I admit I have no idea what to do with something so different. But what are our options? We don't know who or even what the mother is, and even if we did we have no idea how to find her or even if she's still alive."  
She took a step towards him and stared into his eyes with sincerity, "We have to take care of it at least until it's powerful enough. We don't even have to wait until it's evolved, just until it can get it's own food and knows how to fight. That way we can be sure it'll be safe and happy. Besides, if we're lucky it could be the type that can take care of itself after it's born, like a ghost Pokémon does."

Haunter remained stubborn but gave in. He wasn't made of stone, but he had no idea how to take care of a baby. Still, she was right. They couldn't just leave it, "Well alright." He smiled, "But I swear if it starts calling me 'mommy' I'm gonna draw the line."

She laughed and gestured with her head, "Come on, let's get it back to the tower. The last thing we need is it hatching on use in the burrow and turning into a Lugia or something."

He laughed with her and carried the egg back to the tower. Umbreon would have carried it, but she doesn't have any hands.  
When they reached the top, Haunter laid the egg onto Eve's bed and she wrapped some of the blankets around it. She tucked the sheets under the egg until it was snuggled up nicely. It was a little cold from being held by Haunter, but it wasn't that bad.  
She smiled at the sight, "Aw, it's so cute all wrapped up like that." He cocked his body slightly, "Yeah, I guess it is."

The tiny egg was all wrapped and warm, nice and safe from the cold. He would hate to admit his heart was touched just by the sight.  
He wasn't heartless, but it was a question of pride. Weren't girls supposed to be the ones all gooshy around babies?

Yet, while he was on the subject of babies he still was having problems coming with his own inner feelings towards his best friend.

He looked at her from his side, but she didn't notice because she was too busy admireing the egg.

_Gee, it hasn't even hatched and Eve's acting all 'weird' around it._

Still, it was a little adorable to him, he admitted.

Eve suddenly looked at him and he turned away, "Haunter, can you watch it for a second? I'm going to quickly go get some food. I can tell it's going to hatch soon, so we gotta make sure we have food on the double."

He gawked, "You're leaving me alone with it?"

She dipped her head slightly, "I trust you. You'll be fine. I know plenty of good fruits it might like back at the forest. If it turns out to be a carnivore…well then we'll just go hunting."

Umbreon waved a paw in goodbye and sped down the stairs, "I'll be back as soon as I can!"

He waved back but she was already gone. Once she cleared the graveyard, he turned and looked back to the egg.

It just sat there, but it was almost like the egg was expecting something from him. Like it knew he was there and was supposed to watch it.  
It was for these reasons Haunter reached out and stroked the porcelain smooth surface, "Eh, it's alright." He muttered, "Um, I'll protect you. Okay eggie?"

He could have sworn he felt a tap against the shell as a response, and it caused him to jerk his hand back.  
It was evolved to hatch in about another few days, heck maybe even tonight.

He had to get his mind off of the pressure of babysitting and instead watched the graveyard for Eve. He hoped she would come back soon. If it miraculously hatched before she came back his appearance may scare the baby, and he hated it when things cried.

Oh no, now he was thinking about her again.

As much as he hated to admit it, he couldn't fight his feelings anymore.

_I'm in love with Eve!_

He put his claws to his face in ultimate despair. These feelings hadn't just affected him when she came back, but had even haunted him when he was a teenager. He thought he had pushed his foolish thoughts aside when she left for 11 years, but it just got rekindled with her return.

"No…no…" he rubbed his face in his hands, "I can't be in love with her! I can't! She's different! She's in a different Egg Group! She's not even a ghost! What kind of a sicko am I to have eyes for one of the living! I-I'm not really dead but still!"

It wasn't necessarily a new thing. He's known other Pokémon in the graveyard who had fallen in love with a different type before, and he remembered being disgusted by it. How he sneered and scoffed at the idea of love in the first place when he was a child, and now here it was staring him in his stupid face and he was suffering for it! It was just so embarrassing to have fallen for his best friend in the whole world.

And yet, he still couldn't resist admiring her beauty.

No, it wasn't just her beauty he admired, it was just _her_. She was kind, courageous, friendly, and had a great sense of humor she shared with him! She was the only friend he's ever had, and they've been through a lot in their lifetime. If he were to choose a mate, he couldn't think of a better match.

But he knew it wouldn't be fair to her. Umbreon deserved to find a mate and have a family. If she was ever with him he could never give her that.

She'd just get scared off, or she might even get disgusted. How could he do that to her? How could he hurt her so bad?

What if things became too awkward and their friendship ended? He could never cope with that.

Still, his stupid feelings were telling him to at least _try._

He looked down at his hands. These scare, sharp, three fingered claws could pierce flesh so easily. His gaseous skin was so icy it actually hurt to touch him. How could she ever love something so cold?

"Haunter?" he jumped and spun around. Eve was carry a large leaf she had folded into a 'bag' of some sorts and laid it on the ground before him. The fresh fruit that spilled out consisted of several types of berries, apples, and oddly a few stones.  
He looked at her oddly and she shrugged, "What? It might be one of the types that eat rocks."

Eve walked to the egg and laid down with her flank against it, then she wrapped her bushy tail around it protectively. Like her mother had when she was a baby, she began to nuzzle it affectionately. However, even though she was preoccupied she could feel Haunter's slit eyes on her and began to get nervous. Was he admiring her again? What, did he really think she didn't notice how much he kept staring at her? She knew when she was being checked out, but oddly why didn't she feel uncomfortable enough to tell him to back off?

_I can't seriously be yearning for his affection, could I?_

Haunter looked down at her, and felt his romantic feelings lash at him again.

He tried to hold it back, but he knew they were never going to stop.

_I have to at least try; else I'll regret it forever._

He told himself. He never thought he'd be the kind to seek a mate…but if he ever had a chance with her…just a chance to see if she would ever accept him…

He would do everything in his power to make her happy.

Timidly, he said, "Eve?"

She stopped nuzzling the egg and looked at him, "Yes?"

He sucked in his breath, "Uh, I just wanted to let you know…erm." He hesitated. This wouldn't be too far, would it? He had to at least test her, "I, em, wanted you to know that no matter what, I'll always be there to protect you…"

Umbreon's eyes held a deep look of trust within them, "I…thank you. You really are my best friend."

His ears drooped slightly at her just calling him a friend, "Yes, friend. We are. The best of friends…" he loved being her friend. He really did, but honestly all the constant pondering about if Umbreon felt the same way was killing him.

It hit him then.

_Oh great, I'm friendzoned._

Even Pokémon knew what that slang was. No no, he wasn't looking at her in a perverted way. He was creepy, but he wasn't a creep. _**That **_wasn't even possible for them anyway…  
However, he has liked her for a very long time, but she seems clueless about his feelings. Even if she might, MIGHT, feel the same way he sure can't tell, and she can't tell with him.

Maybe he should just forget it.

_What are you doing?! You're giving up way too easily! What are you?! A Haunter or a Vanillish?_

He knew his subconscious was right. Simply talking wasn't going to get her attention. If he was really serious about this, there was something he had to start doing before anyone else claimed her. If he really was destined to have a mate, she would be the only one.

Umbreon hugged the egg closer in an uncomfortable gesture. She had come to her own internal conclusion earlier when she was on her way to find food for the baby.

She can't go seeking another mate when there was only one male she was interested in, and it shamed her to think it was her best friend. Still, she couldn't move on without at least seeing if he was interested, and there was only one official way to bring his attention to her affections.

* * *

Morning had finally arrived. Haunter had stayed up all night, as usual, and made sure Umbreon and the egg would be safe. She stayed up for as long as she could to be there when it hatched, but long after midnight she was still feeling weary from the night before. So, against her will, she fell asleep early again.  
He made sure they were safe, but the egg hadn't hatched yet.

Haunter leaned up in his makeshift bed and stretched, or at least imitated a stretch since he had no arms.

He looked from his position from the rafters down to Eve, but she was still sleeping and curled around the egg.

He leaned backwards into his bed and began to ponder on how he should approach the first step without scaring her.  
After a little while, he got an idea. Carefully and quietly, he fazed through the ceiling of the tower and left into the forest. He cursed the early morning rays, but knew the thick trees of the forest would protect him for now.

It wouldn't take him long. He knew exactly where he was going…

* * *

The morning came slow for Umbreon. She woke up lazily and moved a bit to make sure the egg was stil in place, and it was. This was the second night she had spent there, and she knew that the longer it took for this baby to hatch the longer she'd stay there. Sooner or later she'd have to take the baby back with her to the burrow. No offense to Haunter, but the Cemetery wasn't exactly the safest place to raise a baby.

She didn't mind staying though, as long as she was with him-

Her fur stood up as nerves hit her. The decision she made last night about Haunter…should she really go through with it? Was his love really worth risking their friendship? How should she start?

At a loss of what to do, she instead looked back to the egg and began nuzzling it again in a comforting way. She knew it was slightly aware of her presence. Perhaps it was a Psychic type?

A familiar chill interrupted her and she looked back to the center of the room. To her surprise, she saw a small pile of 4 Pecha berries displayed in front of her. She blinked a few times and moved her gaze up to Haunter, who was floating there with something in his hands, "Oh! Hey! You're awake!"

He gripped whatever was in his hands tighter but she still couldn't see it, "Erm, Haunter? Where did these Pecha Berries come from?"  
"Oh, I uh…" he opened his palms and held out another Pecha Berry to her, which was notably riper and pinker that the others, "I brought them…for you." He floated down towards her and held the 5th Pecha Berry out close enough for her to pick up with her mouth.

However, she only backed her head away from the closeness.

He gazed at her with an odd expression, like he was expecting her to react a certain way. It only made her nervous and caused her to stutter, "Wh-why? We al-already have enough f-fruit."

He sensed how nervous he was making her and tried to keep his voice steady, "You don't know?" he seemed to hint, "You, ah, really don't know?"

Umbreon sadly shook her head and let her nerves slide away, "Sorry, I have no idea what you're talking about. Why did you pick all of them? Don't you know a Pecha Berry tree only grows five at a time? We're going to have to wait for more to grow back now."

His smile seemed to fade slightly, "Oh, I'm sorry I didn't know…"

"It's okay." She casually responded and pushed the four other berries into the fruit pile she had collected the night before, "At least we'll have plenty of Pecha Berries in case the baby gets poisoned for whatever reason."  
She looked out to the one still in his hands and politely declined, "I really appreciate the effort you put into bringing these to me, but no thanks. My stomach's feeling a little queasy right now. You can put it with the others though."

All traces of a smile left his lips and became a subtle frown, "O-Okay. Right." He put the fruit down with the others and sighed.

She frowned.

_What's his problem?_

He's never actually tried to get a meal for her before, so it was odd. What was even stranger was it was DAWN he did this at. He knew she was perfectly capable of geting her own food, so why did he suddenly care?  
Still, she ignored his bizarre behavior and decided it was a good time to get his attention.

She looked at his back and tried to find a compliment to give him, "Hey, uh Haunter?" "Yeah?" he said in a slightly grumpy tone.  
She didn't understand his gruffness and instead continued, "Um, you know you look…ah.." she felt butterflies smash into her stomach.  
How could something as simple as flirting be so horrifying when she just faced a killer doll!

Swallowing, she said quietly, "You look, uh, good. Like…real good this morning." He turned around all he way to face her now, "What?"

"Um…" she felt her face getting hot, "You look good?"

He smiled a bit and giggled, "Really? You mean for a ghost, right? Hee-hee-hee." Her fur stood a bit in slight anger. What, he wasn't going to even try to be serious?

"Haunter, I mean you just look better than usual." She tried in vain to compliment, but he only frowned and scratched his head, "Huh? Are you complimenting me?"

"Uh, yeah?" she brightened up a bit, believing he might be catching on.  
Instead, Haunter only became more confused, "How do I look good? I just look like I always do. Besides, I thought I was supposed to be scary. I'm not un-scary, am I?"

Umbreon wanted to do a facepalm but instead grinded her teeth in frustration, "I-I mean…you're a nice shade of purple? The l-lighting in the tower right now…makes you…look…n-nice."

Haunter had no idea what she was getting at and shrugged at her, "I…guess?"

Umbreon looked away to hide her blushing. This was embarrassing! Did he not know that she was courting him?!

Queasy stomach or not, Umbreon had to cover herself else die of embarrassment. Without thinking, she pulled over one of the Oran berries and dug her face into it, half eating half hiding her blush. When she looked back up to him, he at first seemed confused, but then a high amount of offense overtook his expression and he crossed his hands over his chest as if he was crossing his arms.

She gulped.

_Did I do something wrong?_

Umbreon was about to ask him when he pointed to the egg, "Just let me watch it for a bit, okay? You deserve a break." His tone came out harsher than he wanted, but right now he was a little peeved.

Umbreon lifted her face from the half eaten blue berry and nodded quickly, "Well, alright. I wanna take a walk anyway, but don't worry I won't be far." She just had to get away right now before the embarrassment killed her. Besides, something told her Haunter wanted to be alone.

She got up and walked past him to the stairs, "Call if you need anything, okay?" Haunter gave her a dismissal wave and floated over to the egg.

Umbreon frowned and went down the stairs, shuffling out of that tower as fast as she could.

Haunter watched her leave and growled to himself.

He knew by instinct how most Ghost Pokémon would display their power by bringing their desired mate a soul. If she accepted it, she would devour it. Haunter knew this by instinct; problem was he knew Umbreon didn't like that part of his diet. So, instead he brought her their special Pecha Berries and they still didn't get the message across.  
Did she not know he was courting her? How could she not know that the food he offered her was supposed to be a special show of their bond? The fact she rejected his gift was bad, but for her to suddenly eat another Berry was insulting!

"What did I do wrong?" he complained, "All Ghost Pokémon know that bringing their mate food is affectionate!"

He shook himself and sighed.

_Hmmn, maybe I'm being too harsh. She could have simply interpreted it wrong. Perhaps an Eeveelution's courting behaviors are more different than I thought…_

He gently picked the egg up from the floor and wrapped it in one of the blankets so it wouldn't be cold while he held it. Relaxing, he decided to calmly wait for Umbreon to return. In the meantime, he would watch the egg like he promised and try to come up with another one of his methods to win Eve's affection.

So he laid back into the wall on the other blankets and held the egg to his chest. He didn't exactly know how to comfort a baby, or why he should be pondering how to do that when it's still just an egg. So instead he decided to just stroke the shell up and down with his hand, as if he was rubbing it's back. It was surprisingly soothing to him, but then he felt movement within the egg.  
He froze in his stroking and waited for a second. He had just felt it, a tiny wiggle and a small surge of psychic energy. Whatever Pokémon this was it was defiantly psychic and it was somewhat aware of him.

That…was just creepy.

Still, he went back to petting the egg and thinking about what he was going to do next.

Umbreon came back after about 15 minutes walking in the Graveyard. During her walk, she had been thinking about what had happened.

How did she screw it up? She told him, heck, he KNEW she was complimenting him, but it didn't have any effect on him. In fact, if anything her compliment made him seem uncomfortable. She was trying to win his affection! Not make him uncomfortable!

Well, she'll just have to try something else…

Once she reached the bell room of the tower, she found Haunter lying there with the egg resting against his chest, looking quite content and even affectionate towards it. It was so cute.

She couldn't stop a smile from tracing over her face, "Ahem?"

He jerked and quickly put the egg down into the bed again, "Uh, I…I was just-" "I saw you." Umbreon sat near him, "Already getting attached, are we?"  
"Hmph." He crossed his 'arms' stubbornly, "I ain't no girl."  
She giggled at him, but then slowly her smiled faded, "Hey, Haunter? Ah, sorry about earlier. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

He uncrossed his arms and smiled, "Bah, you know me Eve. I've already let that go." She smiled back but he interrupted her with a yawn, "Ugh, sorry I'm tired. I sleep during the day, you know, but I'll stay up with you to watch the egg."

She shook her head at him, "No, my friend. You've been awake long enough and I've already had my rest. I can handle things until sunset. After all it's still just a little egg."

He gave a resistant nod, but she could tell in his eyes that he was relieved. Perhaps Ghosts need rest more urgently than non-Ghost types do?

She looked him up and down and pondered her next move. Should she show another sign of affection?

Umbreon took another step towards him but decided against it. She just apologized for making him uncomfortable. If she did something else that possibly made him uncomfortable that wouldn't help things.

"Alright, see you later Umbreon, but if anything, ANYTHING happens, let me know and I'll get up as fast as I can." He waved and floated up to his spot in the rafters.

She sighed and curled around the egg again. She felt it move within and noticed how warm it had gotten. It was defiantly going to hatch in just a few days or sooner.

Umbreon then looked up to the rafters, but saw no trace of him up there. She sighed to herself.

_Well, I can tell this is going to be a fun couple of days…_

* * *

_So FINALLY I've decided to start moving them in the 'romantic' direction. So, how am I handling it so far? I have no idea about these particular Pokemon courtships, so I'm basically just going off theory here.  
_

_If anyone has anymore advice for what they could do for each other's attention that'd be great. Please comment and tell me if you have an idea. I could always use the help!  
_

_Hmmn, so what kind of egg can it be? I really hope it's not too cliche for them to find one.  
_


	12. A New Arrival

_I am **SOOOOOOO **sorry! I got caught up with Deviantart, severe writers block, school, and some construction workers breaking the internet at our house for days! But I finally was able to finish this chapter and get it on here. But I'm back!_

_Thank you everyone for being so patient. Now that I have things settled, hopefully I can get the story running again. I apologize that this chapter is a little short, but it's important!_

_Now, at the end of the chapter, I'm going to ask everyone a question and I'll appreciate it in the reviews if you give me an answer. It will really help me._

___Read on and enjoy!_  


* * *

_Chapter 12: The New Arrival_

The days passed slowly, like before, and the sun was setting on yet another day. Umbreon tended to the egg and she knew just by instinct what to do. She made sure it was warm, nuzzled it, stroked it, she even would quietly hum to it like a lullaby. She was getting a little excited at the thought of what Pokémon it would be.

She kept on pondering this as she pushed the berries they had gathered into a neater pile. They should keep for about a week, and hopefully the egg will hatch until then.

_I hope I'll be a good mommy._

Her absent thought made her ears twitch slightly.

_What am I thinking? I'm not going to be it's mother. Just a Guardian._

Eve pushed aside some of the berries with her paw and noticed the Pecha berries Haunter had gathered for her. It made her frown a bit.  
Why had he done that anyway? Was it really just to be friendly? It was so…strange of him. And yet…

_Well, that was very nice of him to gather the berries just for me._

She rolled one of the pink berries with her paw and stared at it with admiration. It was more than just a nostalgic charm they had, but it was the fact that it was one of the things that made them bond. How many nights they had spent playing and tending to that silly little fruit tree of hers, and let's not forget how just one special berry had repaired their friendship when they were children.

She rolled the berry back into the bunch.

_That was a little strange though, how that berry fell so suddenly. I never considered it when I was a child, but now that I've grown…_

"Hey Umbreon."

She wasn't surprised by Haunter's presence this time and instead happily looking to him, "Hi Haunter." The ghost Pokémon floated to her and kept his eyes on the egg, "Aw, still no luck?" "I'm afraid not…" she stared at the egg with a hint of sadness, "It's so close though, I can feel it."

Haunter gave a slight chuckle and picked the egg up gingerly, "That's what you said two days ago, Eve." She rolled her eyes as her friend gently cradled the egg against himself and rocked it. Haunter had since then given up on being the tough guy and finally started to dote on the egg as much as Eve had, perhaps even more.  
It was really sweet to see him so loving. She had seen Haunter be gentle, funny, and unfortunately upset and angry, but this was new to her. For someone that had no instinct whatsoever how to look after a baby, he sure was affectionate.

Now the question was could he be affectionate towards her.

Eve bit her black lip.

Though the egg had provided some distraction, she hadn't forgotten about her friend as a potential mate, and it had really been bothering her.  
She noticed as he cradled the egg he glanced at her awkwardly. There was no way he was thinking the same, was he? No, he couldn't have been.

Then as he rocked it, he began to make a cooing noise, similar to a hum. She smiled at him. They had figured out recently that the vibrations from his chest seemed to calm the baby inside, so she had requested he did that more often.  
At first he refused out of pride, but it was good to see he finally consented.

Umbreon found herself relaxing to his cooing and closed her eyes, listening to him. After a little while, Haunter suddenly stopped and said, "The sun's down. I thought it would never set today."

Umbreon opened her eyes and looked with him out of the tower and to the graveyard. The sun had indeed set and the sky had been sent into gentle hues of twilight.

She felt Haunter touch her shoulder, "Do you want to be with the egg now?"

Eve sighed and shook her head, "No, you're doing fine. Why don't you go ahead and keep making that noise? It really helps."

He nodded, eyes half open from exhaustion, and she stared back at the same kind of expression. She had been staying up later than usual and he had been up almost all of daytime yet again. Hopefully, this baby wasn't going to be one of those that cried a lot during sleeping hours.

Haunter settled down onto the blankets and wrapped the egg in them once again then resumed his cooing.

Eve stared at him for a few seconds and hesitated on what she was about to do. Taking up enough courage, she walked to Haunter and sat next to him so that she was against his side.

He awkwardly looked at her and considered scooting away, but, to be honest he kind of liked her company. It was very comforting in a foreign way.  
Calmly, he relaxed himself and laid against the wall, letting Umbreon lean against him. He slowly began to calm the egg by cooing again, and Umbreon just listened. She was happy that she hadn't spooked him away and that he felt as if she could relax with her around.

It wasn't long before his cooing had lulled her into a deep sleep.

* * *

Haunter slowly woke in the middle of the night, slightly aware of his surroundings. He realized he was still at the same place on the floor with the blankets.

"Damn…" he muttered, "Must have dozed off…" he shifted a bit with the egg against his chest, but something he noticed was amiss was the warmth that was at his side. He looked over and saw Umbreon was missing.  
He wasn't worried, but he was a little confused.

_Where did she go?_

He pondered this for a minute when it hit him.

It was a full moon tonight.

_Oh…_

Stretching, he carefully put the egg back down in the blankets and made sure it was warm before he floated to the top of the tower. He fazed through the floor of the ceiling and emerged to the roof, right where Umbreon happened to be sitting.  
She jumped at his sudden arrival, but sighed and went back to what Haunter knew she had been doing. She had been gazing at the moon the whole time.

Haunter floated to her side and 'sat' next to her, looking up at the beautiful moon.

It's light shined down on both of them, illuminating their figures over the graveyard. He glanced over to his friend.

Her black fur shined like ebony and her red eyes the deepest shade of blood. Her yellow rings almost seemed to be silver from the pale moonlight, as if they were absorbing it's rays, though he knew they couldn't do that. Could they?

Slowly, he said, "Eve? Shouldn't you be asleep?"

She didn't move at all, and instead whispered, "Not on a night like this, with the moon so full. I can't…"

Haunter pawed the stone surface they were one with one of his claws, "What is with you and the moon anyway? Does this have to do with the moonstone?"

"Yes." The answer was so quick and blunt it left him a little slack jawed, "Sometimes we Eeveelutions can feel special things around our element, since it was a matter of choice whether from us or our trainers. I can't explain it, but I feel I have a connection to the moon, a bond. My mother had a connection with the sun, my father the ocean…" her voice trailed off and Haunter frowned.

He knew that even now talking about her parents was touchy, and in a way looking at the moon reminded her of them. Probably something about it being an unworldly, ethereal beauty, like the afterlife. At least he knew his parents were still around, probably, but to lose them in such tragic fashions…it was no wonder she hadn't outgrown it.

He gave a small sigh and turned his attention back to the moon, knowing full well she was gazing at it for more than just its beauty, but he kept quiet. If she wanted to talk to him about her parents then she would, but it would be best not to push it.

There was awkward silence for a while before she finally said, "Do you think it was my fault?"

"What?" he looked back to her. Umbreon sighed and turned her head to him, to which he stiffened. There were tears in her red eyes, "I said…do you think it was my fault?" Before he could ask what she meant, she began to sniffle and sob, "T-that my mother died? I was there Haunter and I should have…I should-should have done more. If only I was strong-stronger I-I-"  
He immediately grabbed her shoulders, "No! No Eve!"  
She dipped her head and tried to keep from breaking down completely, holding back her tears and straightening up, "I-I'm sorry. It's stupid for me to keep breaking down like this. I don't l-like bringing all this drama."

"Hush." He pulled her into an awkward embrace, both hands on her back, "It wasn't your fault, it wasn't even really that Nidoking's fault he was hunting. You two were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. If you're going to blame anyone, blame fate. I've seen enough mourners in my lifetime, so don't be ashamed of being upset. There's nothing wrong with that. The best you can do is move on, but don't forget them. Don't forget their sacrifices…okay Eve? You have to forgive yourself."

She shifted a bit, but that wasn't reassuring to him. He pulled away from her and kept his hands on her shoulders, looking her sternly but gently in the eyes, "Forgive yourself, or you'll never heal. Do it for me? Please?"  
She stared at him for what seemed like hours before she gave a relieved sigh and weakly smiled, "Alright, I will. Thank you. You're a lot better at comforting than you think, old friend."

He smiled and removed his hands from her shoulders, "Hey, let's just call it a new talent then, shall we?"

She chuckled a bit and returned her gaze back to the moon, which he followed.

They were silent once again. Umbreon still felt sad, but at least some of the weight had been lifted off her chest, and it was all thanks to Haunter.

She looked back to him and smiled a little bit, pondering what she should do next.

It had been a few days, and maybe now was a good time to show just a little more affection towards him. Then maybe perhaps he would return it. While he was floating low to the ground, just in her reach, Eve cautiously scooted towards him.  
Gently, she nudged her head against his icy side and carefully nuzzled into him, a common sign of affection among most Pokémon, but would he return it?

He jerked a little bit but didn't pull away. He was more confused than anything else, but for some reason Haunter seemed to like her sudden gesture of affection. She was a lot warmer than he was, and it felt a little good. It was just like when she had snuggled up next to him earlier. Sure this was random like before, but he oddly liked it.

Feeling it would only be right to return it; Haunter carefully leaned against her and reached his right hand around. He made contact with her right arm and pulled her against him gently, rubbing it a few times.

Butterflies lashed at Eve's insides at their closeness. He was actually returning her affection! Maybe she wasn't so crazy after all.

After a few minutes of awkward cuddling Eve was going to try and compliment him again when suddenly a surge of psychic energy smacked her like a brick. She took a deep breath and nearly slipped from Haunter's grasp. Well, that is if he hadn't increased his grip suddenly.  
She looked over and knew by his surprised expression he felt it too. Slowly, he turned his eyes to her and whispered as if he was unsure, "The egg?"

Umbreon could barely contain her excitement when she practically yelped, "The egg!"

He let her go and Umbreon slipped underneath the rooftop from the hole she used to get up there. Not long after she dropped into the rafters did Haunter faze through the ceiling next to her.

He picked her up and floated down to the floor and put her down. Umbreon and Haunter both rushed to the egg, and just as expected the egg was glowing a beautiful white and the shell was already breaking off bit by bit.  
Umbreon immediately used her motherly instinct and began gently peeling off the egg shells to help the baby out. Haunter didn't know what to do but he was there if she needed anything from him. His eyes were wide with awe as the glowing became brighter and brighter with every piece Eve pulled off.

Finally the glow reached its climax and began to recede as the baby Pokémon broke through its casing.

Eve and Haunter stared in amazement at the Pokémon before them.

It was a cute little Pokémon with a white body that looked like it was wearing a dress, little three fingered arms that looked closer to paws, and it had a white 'helmet' on its head with two very pale pink 'horns' sticking from it. The horns were pink because of the blood vessels within them. It covered half of the baby's face, much like a bowl-haircut, and they wondered for a moment if it even had eyes.  
This was confirmed when the baby tilted it's head back to look at them with huge dark red eyes that greatly clashed with its snow white skin.

It smiled and waved its tiny arms at Umbreon, saying in a feminine voice, "Gaahhh."

Haunter just stared.

He had never seen this kind of Pokémon before, but Eve was ecstatic, "It's a Ralts!"

The ghost looked to his companion in confusion, "A what?" "A Ralts." She looked at him happily, "I've seen these in some human towns before. They're little psychic Pokémon that are very loyal to those they care about. I'm not really sure what they evolve into, but they aren't hostile unless provoked. I know that." She looked back to the wiggling baby, "They're also herbivores."

Haunter gave a small sigh of relief. It would be easier to feed the baby if it was a herbivore, "That's good, and I'm glad they're not aggressive."

Eve nodded but frowned a little, "Yeah, but…something's strange. Ralts have dark pink horns and pale green hoods, like the egg showed. Why is this one white with slightly pink horns?"

Haunter scratched his head a few times, at a loss, "Well, it could be a type of shiny? Or, maybe albino?"

"I guess…." Though a shiny Pokémon was unusual, and albino even more so, Eve was happy all the same that the Ralts was healthy, and apparently hungry.

The little female baby had already started crawling towards the still ripe berries they had gathered. At first she reached for one of the blue Oran berries, but Eve stopped her with her paw, "Wait, little one." The baby looked up at Umbreon happily, and she knew just by the way she stared she thought the Eeveelution was her mommy, "Try this one. It tastes better." Eve rolled one of the Pecha berries to the Ralts.  
Haunter looked at Eve with approval as the Ralts stared at the pink berry. Admiring its color, the baby picked up the berry and stuffed it into her mouth, eating it greedily until the fruit was all gone.

Umbreon and Haunter couldn't help but smile at the sight of the joyous Ralts, eating the berry they bonded over. In a way, it brought back their own childhood memories.

From there on, they let the baby have her fill of whatever berry she wanted until she was done and spun to them, obviously thinking they were her parents.

Umbreon had to laugh at her innocent stare and said very carefully, "Hello there, little one. You are Ralts, okay? I am Umbreon and this is my good friend, Haunter. We will be taking care of you until you're old enough, alright?"

The baby seemed to get the message because she crawled over and snuggled up to Umbreon's legs. The Eeveelution was overjoyed and looked to Haunter, "I think she needs to rest. She just hatched after all."

He agreed right away and picked the little one up in his claws. At first she shivered, but she seemed unafraid of the male Pokémon she believed to be her father and allowed him to carry her over to where she hatched. Eve had moved the shell pieces away and pawed at the fabric to fluff the material up again. Once it was ready, she stepped aside and let Haunter rest Ralts on the blankets.

Then they both looked to each other and simultaneously decided to stay next to the baby, as they couldn't leave her. So, Umbreon walked to Ralts and wrapped herself around the child, while Haunter rested himself against the wall behind them, putting his hands protectively on either side of the Pokémon. He didn't need to sleep at night anymore, so he'd be awake to protect them from any kind of threat from the graveyard. Anything there could have felt the release of psychic energy come from the baby's hatching, so they could be at risk.

Umbreon could also stay awake most of the night, but she needed to be primarily responsible for the long days ahead of them and to do that she needed rest.

She didn't worry though because Haunter could primarily be in charge of the nighttime. As long as he was there, he'd make sure they both would be safe while they slept.

His best friend and their new little responsibility.

What would await them now?

* * *

_Was that good? I hope so. XD_

_Well, for those who have previously read this chapter I actually made the decision that instead of the Ralts being pink, I wanted her to be Albino because I thought that would be really interesting. I've always wanted an Albino Gardevoir too. :D  
_

_So, the question I wanted to ask was this and it's important. I already was planning on making this story into two parts because it was so long. This is volume one, and I was planning on doing volume two. Not really a sequel, just a way to divide an enormous story._

_My question is the Bell of Death will eventually reveal a super ultimate bad guy._

_Now, here are the options._  
_Should I have this bad guy be revealed in this story and temporarily taken care of at the end, only to show up again in the second volume? Should I have this super bad guy be completely obliterated in this story, only to reveal a different bad guy in the second volume? Or should I have this bad guy kinda sorta revealed and built up in this story, but ultimately reveal him in the second volume and THEN permanently take care of him at the end of that story?_

_Please answer! I need some opinions because this could really affect the story!_

_PS: This story is NOT DEAD. I'm going to be posting again in about a week once I sort some things out.  
_


	13. Bonding

_Awww yeah! Look out people cause I am BACK! I want to thank everyone for being so awesome and patient with me, and this time I promise I'm going to try and update this story more often now that I have a plan going.  
The thing is, I was caught in a severe writer's block thanks to school and other work, but I'm finally getting back into this._

_Thank you those who gave me advice on what I should do next in the story and the like, especially EmeraldDragon1, __BlueSnapDragon__, and XxADVENTURE TIMEx for the ideas and urging me to continue. You all rock!_

* * *

_Chapter 13: Bonding_

The next morning Eve woke with a start. Something was off.

Instinctually she curled her tail and noticed what was wrong. The baby Ralts wasn't there!

For a moment she went into a full panic, leaping up and looking around frantically for the baby. After she had succeeded in nearly tearing the blanket bed apart, she heard a loud screeching giggle come from the front of the tower.

Horrified, she ran as fast as she could to the source of the noise, nearly slipping off the stone steps of the tower.

Once she reached the grass, she was relieved to see Haunter playing with the shiny albino Ralts. He was floating over the baby; dangling one of his hands over her so Ralts could hang off one of his large fingers. Her tiny white nubby hands barely wrapped around his right index claw and she'd constantly slip off and fall onto the cold grass, but would giggle and grab onto his finger all over again.

It was almost as cute as when she caught him resting with the egg against his chest a few nights ago.

She continued watching as Haunter floated down and carefully picked her up in one of his claws. She was tiny enough to fit comfortable in his palm and proceeded to wiggle around a little bit. Carefully, he used his free hand to float it down and let her tug at his fingers and giggle as he brushed her stomach with their tips, tickling her.

When she let out another overexcited laugh Haunter couldn't stop from laughing too with that all familiar cackle Eve has grown up with.

The baby stopped laughing immediately and stared up at him, as if she was puzzled. He recoiled his hand from her slightly, only to be surprised when the baby suddenly let out a hearty cackle much like he had, though it was a Ralts version of his laugh.

He was a little shocked at how fast she was able to comprehend 'imitation', but he could care less and simply cackled with her.

Umbreon smiled at them both and darted her eyes towards the tombstones when she saw movement, immediately feeling protective even though Haunter could take care of himself. However, she let out a sigh of relief when she saw it was just a few grumpy looking Ghost Pokémon, annoyed at the noise they were making this morning when they were trying to sleep.

Finally, she walked towards the two and made her presence known, "It's surprising to see you up, Haunter."

He jerked in the air and looked at her like he had just been caught committing a crime. As soon as Ralts saw her she began reaching eagerly for Umbreon, making cooing noises the whole way.

Embarrassed that he had been seen being so 'cutesy' with the baby Pokémon, he gently placed her on the ground in front of Umbreon. Ralts crawled to her and hugged her front legs, happily nuzzling them.

She smiled down at the adorable Pokémon and looked back up to Haunter, who was twiddling his thumbs sheepishly, "What, what?" he asked, slightly gruff, "She woke up early and started wiggling around, so I had to keep her busy so she wouldn't wake you up."

Umbreon giggled at his sweetness and looked back down to Ralts, "At least she seems to like you. Psychic types tend not to get along with Ghost types."

He rolled his eyes sarcastically, "Oh gee, I wonder why."

After they giggled a little bit, Ralts finally let go of Umbreon and began wandering around, exploring various tombstones as much as she could by crawling. As they both kept watchful gazes on her, Umbreon hesitantly said, "Haunter, at least until she evolves into a Kirlia I think that a majority of her growing should be back in my burrow."

Haunter kept his eyes on the baby, but there was a look of disappointment in them, "Why?"

Umbreon shifted a bit, uncomfortable with the idea that she'd have to explain this, "Come on Haunter, Raltses and their evolutionary lines are empathetic emotional Pokémon, able to sense the emotions of others. No offense but do you really think a Pokémon like her is best to raise in this kind of place? We may be creatures of the nighttime, but not her."

Haunter opened his mouth and looked like he was about to argue more when he was interrupted.

"Hey!" A random voice shouted.

They both saw the tombstone she was exploring near stir slightly and a Duskskull appear from behind it, looking pissed, "Do you mind kid? I'm trying to sleep!"

The sudden appearance of the scary Ghost Pokémon made the baby yelp.

Eve and Haunter were about to spring into action when Ralts began to glow a bright blue and enveloped the small Ghost Pokémon. Before he could react she psychically threw him clear across the Graveyard, disturbing more Spirits before they grumpily went back to sleep.

They bother gawked at Ralts, amazed she had managed to do that at such a young age.

Slowly, Haunter awkwardly seemed to understand and mumbled with more depression than he meant, "I suppose you're right…"

Ralts then sat down and put her little hands to her eyes and began to cry.

Immediately Haunter and Umbreon went to her aid, Haunter picking her up and hugging her while Eve spoke in a soft tone.

While they were comforting her, a shadow began to appear near them.

Haunter was the first to sense the entity and spun around to face it. When Umbreon followed, she was surprised to see the shadow before them materialize and shape into an odd figure.

When it formed fully in front of them, Umbreon gasped. It was of course a Ghost Pokémon, but one she hadn't seen before.

It was an odd looking Pokémon that stood on two stubby legs and had matching stubby arms with three small but sharp looking claws crossed over its chest. He was missing one of his ruby red eyes, nothing but a partially closed and empty eye socket in its place. The sight made her shudder.  
She wasn't disgusted; it's just that his missing right eye reminded Eve about the Nidoking that killed her mother. She somehow had a feeling that any Pokémon with a missing eye would remind her about that awful night.

Umbreon could tell he wasn't too fond of her, probably because she always spent so much time there. Strange, she knew when they were kids Haunter had mentioned something about a Pokémon who lost his eye when trying to get away from humans, but who was he again? Was it this guy?

Judging by his expression, he was a mixture between exhausted and annoyed, "Ugh, Haunter do you know what time it is? It's 8:00 am! Why are you and your friends stirring the dead at such a late hour? Need I remind you how important it is we get our rest for the big day coming up?!"  
His single eye was half closed and he had a hard time focusing through this tired sight. As it was, he could barely see the two before him now.

"Aw come on Gengar…" Haunter whined while Umbreon was trying to ponder what he meant, "It's a week away! There's plenty of time to rest, and I don't think a few lost hours are going to hurt us. Besides, it was an accident. Ralts is just a baby after all."

"Ralts?" Gengar's eye widened a little bit as he tried to focus and he glanced at the sniffling baby Haunter was holding. His vision was so blurry before he hadn't even noticed her, "Ah, so that's where the psychic pulse from the tower came from."  
He then cast his gaze to Haunter in a glare, "I trust that you'll keep her under control. The last thing we need is a bunch of tombstones flying everywhere."

"Don't worry about it." Haunter said, patting Ralts's back a few times, "She'll be fine. She just has to learn how control her powers."

The albino baby turned a little bit to see the grown Gengar eyeing her suspiciously. The sight of a very large, unfamiliar ghost with a huge mouth and a missing eyeball terrified her further. This caused the baby to squeal and hug onto Haunter, sobbing louder than before.

In an uncharacteristic fashion, Haunter yelled in a worried tone, "Oh now look what you did!"

He resumed comforting her when Umbreon finally spoke up, "Um, may I ask what day you two were talking about? I've been trying to figure it out but can't."

Gengar gave her an odd look before rolling his eye in annoyance, like if she was supposed to know, "Halloween Night! Duh!"

Umbreon cocked her head a bit. She knew what Halloween Night was to humans and Trainer-owned Pokémon. It was some kind of bizarre holiday that they celebrated once a year, kinda like a birthday but with a lot of weird outfits. She's seen children, teenagers, and even a few Pokémon, walking down forest paths before, talking all about the night's 'trick or treating', or something like that. She didn't know what it meant, but she always thought it looked like fun.  
She'd only seen this here and there in her lifetime, so the date and rules of the Holiday were vague to her. She didn't even know why they celebrated it.

"What interest does a Human Holiday give you guys? I thought the Ghosts in the Graveyard stayed away from humans." she asked, still confused about the whole ordeal.

Gengar sighed and looked impatiently to what she knew was his Grave. He must be exhausted.

Then he looked back to her, "Halloween Night interests us because it's the one human holiday we bother celebrating in this Graveyard. Well, we celebrate it in our own way. We don't dress up in costumes and do this weird 'trick or treat' ritual."  
He suddenly leaned towards her playfully with his claws bared and a goofy grin stretched across his face, "Instead, we take this night to leave the Graveyard and scare people!"

Haunter nodded and continued the explanation, "The older ghosts of the Graveyard go to Zoryn village to scare people, steal sweets, the usual chaos. We always go in a group and make sure everyone is present when the night ends. That way we don't risk our lives, so to speak. Besides, people there are so used to seeing Ghost Pokémon in their town on Halloween they don't bother us anymore. It's the perfect night to cause mischief because it's the human holiday for mischief! People get pranked all the time on Halloween so they usually laugh no matter what we do, especially the children! Hee hee hee."

Umbreon had to smile at that a little bit. Okay, now this holiday REALLY sounded fun! The more she heard about it the more she wanted to join in.

Then Gengar leaned back and gave a mild glare to Haunter, "As I was saying. You guys can do what you want at night, but during the daytime keep it quiet!"

"Yes sir." He mumbled as Gengar turned into a dark purple mist and disappeared, no doubt going back to sleep for the daytime.

Haunter stuck his tongue out in his direction after he left. Ralts had finally calmed down once Gengar left and noticed him doing that. She thought it was funny and also began sticking her tongue out.

Umbreon giggled at the imitation as Haunter placed Ralts on her back so she could ride her, "Haunter, how come you never told me about celebrating Halloween? It's sounds so great!"

He shifted his eyes to the left a bit and scratched the back of his neck, like the subject really bothered him for some reason, "Well, to be honest I didn't tell you because I don't 'celebrate' with the others. Not really, anyway."

Eve frowned a bit and Ralts started moving from her back to the back of her head to hang on, "What do you mean?"

The ghost wrung his disembodied hands a little bit, feeling even more uncomfortable, "Eh, well truth is I don't like humans very much. Even though it's safe and no Ghost has gotten hurt in the town, I don't trust it. I don't know if I could face one human, let alone many. So I usually stay here with a few of the other adults to look after the younger Ghosts or keep the Graveyard safe from hooligans. We rather keep our home clean, after all."

Umbreon smiled up at him enthusiastically, "Perhaps we could take Ralts and go together? That way there'd be a lesser chance of something bad happening to you. Would that make you more comfortable if we were there instead of just the other Ghosts?"

He was quiet for a long time, pondering. Honestly, he really didn't want to go to that human town. Ever since that bad experience with the Graveyard all those years ago he really mistrusted them. He didn't hate them, but as much as he hated to admit it he feared them what they might do to him, or more importantly those he cared about. He was truly scared of what could happen.  
Yet when he looked into Umbreon's red eager eyes something inside told him it would be alright. He was always afraid to go with the others because of his fear of humans, but with her beside him perhaps he could pull through…

Releasing his breath, he smiled slightly at her and said, "With you and Ralts with me, I think I might be able to work up the nerve."

This made his childhood friend beam in excitement as she exclaimed, "Great! We'll all plan to go together! It'll be good for Ralts to see a human town in case, well, she wants to become a Trainer's Pokémon when she old enough to leave our care."

For a moment, she saw a hint of dread in Haunter's eyes as he muttered, "Leave? O-oh, oh yeah, when she gets old enough. Uh huh."

Umbreon had to give him a subtle frown for that. If she wasn't mistaken by his emotions, he seemed to already be hesitant about giving her up though it's only been a short amount of time.  
Then again, as Ralts sat on her back and playfully tugged and chewed on her right ear, she had to admit it was already making it harder for her to come to terms with the truth.

Still, she knew that Ralts deserved to grow up with her own kind, or at least under proper care, not two random best friends who don't know anything about raising a baby together.

Though the thought made her heart ache with depression, she knew it was for Ralt's own good.

Deep down, she was beginning to hope that it would be a while before that day.

* * *

Eve watched the baby Ralts play in the burrow's river a little bit, having never seen water before. It was adorable to see her splash around and occasionally scare the water Pokémon with her antics.

When she had come back to the burrow, she had received some odd looks from the other Pokémon. They were no doubt wondering what Ralts was, since they're rare to find out in the wild. At least in the Unova region.  
But she ignored them. It wasn't their business and she had gotten over what other Pokémon thought about her. Well, except for that one particular subject…

She was abruptly interrupted from her thoughts when a figure stuck it's head out from a nearby bush. It was a Glaceon, and judging by the scent it was male.

Umbreon was surprised. She hasn't seen a Glaceon around here before. He must have just evolved into one.

She smiled and acknowledged him with a nod, and he followed suit. Then slowly he cocked his head at her a smiled a little bigger. Eve didn't know what his intentions were until he moved towards her and tried to nuzzle her face. She backed up to avoid him and stared, and he only stared back in confusion and hurt rejection.

She had to frown at that.  
Among her kind, nuzzling was a close sign of affection and for a stranger to try that immediately meant he was trying to court her. He was looking for a mate, in other words.

The Eeveelution gave him a once over. He was handsome, sure, and looked very healthy and strong. On the eyes, he wasn't bad and seemed to be genuinely polite; else he would have become aggressive when she rejected him.

If it was any other time, she would have probably tried courting him in a second…but…

Sighing, she said the words before she was able to think, "I'm sorry, there's someone else…"

Eve blinked at what she just said. Did she…did she just basically say Haunter was her…

Her face began to get hot under her black fur and watched the male Eeveelution for a reaction. He slowly seemed to understand and nodded back, slightly upset. Then he turned around and walked back through the bush, searching once again for his soul mate.

Eve felt a great sense of sadness wash over her at the thought of potentially finding someone, yet a wave or relief hit her as well.

She really had just admitted to herself and subtly to someone else that she really is in love with Haunter. This whole time she had been trying to get her attention she's been unsure of herself, but now she knows without a doubt. It was eating her inside and if she didn't get his attention soon she would be forced to just ask him if he felt the same.  
Umbreon doubted that though. If he really did like her he would catch on to her courting methods and return the affection somehow, right?

Getting dizzy from all these complex thoughts, she turned around walked to Ralts in the River. She picked her up gently by the scruff with her mouth and brought her a short ways over to the Pecha Berry tree Eve planted all those years ago.  
She placed her before it and said softly, "I wanted to show you this, Ralts. This is the Pecha Berry tree Haunter and I bonded over all those years ago. It's very dear to the both of us, and you deserved to know why."

The baby Pokémon smiled up at the hanging pink berries that were swiftly becoming her favorite treat and reached up to them and hopped a few times. Giggling, Eve was about to retrieve one when something plopped before them both and startled her.

There on the grass was a purple Pecha Berry.

It put Eve into a state of awed shock as Ralts gleefully didn't seem to notice the difference between purple and pink and without hesitation picked it up and began eating it.

Umbreon just stared at the purple berry. It was exactly like the berry that hit her head that morning and inspired her to go make up the Gastly. They even shared it together.

Of all the times…why?

She immediately looked back up to the tree to see if someone had dropped it, but no sign of anyone. She couldn't smell any kind of presence there either, and even if it was a ghost she would have been able to sense something thanks to her time in the Zoryn Cemetery.

Feeling uneasy, Umbreon gently tapped Ralts in the back with her black paw and muttered, "Come on little one, let's get you back to the tree for a nap."  
She didn't know why, but now she wanted to get away from that Pecha Tree for a while. She would feel better if they did.

Ralts finished her treat before she slowly obeyed her 'mother' and followed Umbreon back to the tree. Umbreon didn't need to carry her since it was such a short walk, even with her crawling.

As they moved back towards the tree, Umbreon failed to notice Ralts stop crawling and immediately jerk upwards. Then she twisted around towards the direction of the tree and appeared to be looking at it, or more like ABOVE it.  
She continued to stare for a few second before smiling and eagerly waving one of her little hands at whatever invisible thing was there.

Then she abruptly stopped, frowned slightly, and twisted back to continue crawling after Umbreon.

Whatever it was that was there had disappeared…

* * *

_So what do you think? Read and Review! And thanks again for all the advice and patience!_


	14. White Noise

_Chapter 14: White Noise_

Eve was curled around the snow white Ralts and watched her as she peacefully slept. It was pretty early in the night since the sun just set, but babies need more sleep than adults after all.

She smiled at her and would occasionally nuzzle Ralts on the forehead when it looked like she was starting to have a nightmare. Eve continued to watch over her though, perfectly content.

Only a few days had gone by, and she could already sense that her psychic powers were beginning to grow. This began to concern her a little bit.

Gardevoirs were very powerful Psychic types, able to bend reality around them itself if they concentrated enough. Though Raltses weren't nearly as powerful, they did begin to show great strides in their abilities when they were young, as did most Psychic-Type Pokémon.  
While she was happy that Ralts was already becoming powerful, she was troubled about this. Neither she nor Haunter were Psychic-Types and though she knew a few psychic tricks from her mother she was in no position to train Ralts how to control her powers.

Sure, she could teach her a few techniques she picked up and could very carefully show her the way, but what if Ralts learned too fast? What if her powers matured quicker than her lessons? If Ralts couldn't control herself she could accidentally destroy a lot of things.

Eve frowned.

Bah, she was worrying too much. There's nothing that says that will actually happen, so why should she just focus on the negative side?

She shook her head a little.

_I really do wish I was a Psychic-Type like my mother sometimes._

The Dark Pokémon looked outside the open trunk of the tree and considered leaving to get some food for the baby, but stopped when Ralts snapped her eyes open abruptly and jerked into a sitting position.

Eve was about to inquire what was wrong when she felt a familiar chill in the air.

She no longer was curious who it was as Haunter fazed through the tree trunk and appeared before them.

Ralts became happy and reached for him. It had been a few days since she had seen her 'father' and was ecstatic he was there. She must have sensed him before Umbreon had, even in sleep.  
Haunter replied to her actions by gently patting her on the head, but he kept his eyes on Eve and looked quite worried and anxious.

Umbreon tilted her head at him in concern, "What's wrong Haunter? You look upset."

He gulped a little and quietly muttered, "That's because I am. Eve, you have to come with me to the Cemetery right away. Something's wrong with the Bell of Death. I think we're in a lot of trouble."

Eve was suddenly very confused. The Bell of Death? There was something wrong with it? What could be wrong with it? Surely, if it rung she would have heard it or something like that. Though she wasn't sure what he meant, if Haunter was honestly worried about this then it must hold some weight.

She nodded slowly and said, "Alright, let's go. It's not like I'm going to get Ralts to fall back asleep anytime soon with you here."

He chuckled a little bit and picked the baby Pokémon up as Umbreon stood. She shook herself a few times before following Haunter out of the tree and through the forest towards Zoryn Cemetery.

The whole way she couldn't help but think:

_What could be wrong with a magical bell of the dead?_

* * *

They both just stared at the Bell of Death, perplexed.

The carvings of the bell were pulsing and dimly glowing a dark purple color, as if it was alive and self aware. Each time it pulsed, a little –thu-thump- noise could be heard, like a deep heartbeat that caused Eve's chest to resonate with its baritone hum.

She looked at her side to Haunter and knew he must have felt the thumping like her because he would occasionally quiver at the beat.

After a few moments of watching it for any change, she mumbled, "How long has it been like this?"

Without turning, Haunter quietly responded, "About two hours, around when the sun set. I have no idea why. Of all the years I've lived here, it's never glowed like this before. At least not to my knowledge. I don't know what could have caused it."

Umbreon shrugged and watched Ralts crawl around. A few minutes ago she had gotten tired of sitting in Haunter's hand and began to wiggle free, so he let her roam around the tower until they figured out what was going on with the bell. She seemed to be oblivious to it.

Twitching her nose, Eve suggested, "Maybe someone rung it? Or didn't ring it but made it move slightly?"

Haunter shook side to side, "Nah, I've been in the tower the whole time and I would have sensed if someone, living or not, was here with me. Wind has never been able to move it on its own because that bell is made out of…what was it…pure silver I believe. No spirit that means harm by releasing the trapped demon would dare touch it anyway."

Eve had to look at him for that, "Uh, I'm sorry I don't know about this. What's wrong with silver? Why can't a spirit that means harm touch it?"

Haunter crossed his arms before finally taking his eyes off the bell to look at her, "Silver is a precious metal and like Iron is known to ward off malevolent spirits. Originally the spirit within the bell wasn't evil, and the silver of the bell was there to protect it from malicious spirits that meant it harm. However, when it turned bad the silver of the bell itself was used to keep it trapped forever. I can touch silver because I'm pure, sort of, but trust me when I say no evil spirit would dare try it. Silver and iron can permanently scar a ghost, and that's saying a lot when we're not supposed to have flesh in the first place."

Umbreon nodded in understanding when a movement of white caught the corner of her eye. She turned slightly to see Ralts crawling towards it, having taking interest in the bell suddenly.

She placed her hands on the bell's base and Eve was going to object when Haunter interrupted, "Don't worry, it takes a lot of strength to push it, and it's not midnight yet so it's harmle-"

He stopped talking when the bell suddenly glowed a brighter purple under the baby's touch and caused Ralts to yank her hands away in a hurry, as if she had been bitten by a Seviper.

She then put her hands to her chest and began to quietly sob. They rushed to her immediately and began to try calming her down.

Haunter managed to pry her hands away from her chest enough to look at her palms, and gasped. They both appeared to be red where she touched the metal of the bell, as if she had burned herself with boiling water.  
Concerned, he began to rub her palms with his fingers as gingerly as he could, trying to sooth the mysterious burns.

Umbreon saw the burns and became bewildered before twisting to the bell, "How-"  
She reached out and touched the base of the bell without thinking. It once again began to glow and caused her to yank away in a similar fashion, but she managed to do it a little sooner than Ralts, "Ow!" she yelled, "It's hot like the sun's inside it!"

Haunter kept rubbing Ralts palms while suddenly looking at Eve, worry in his features, "Are you alright? Do you need me to take a look?"

Eve shook her paw a bit, "No, I'm fine. I think my fur protected me from most of the heat."

He hissed and glared at the bell like it was a criminal, "It's like it doesn't even want the living touching it! This thing is far worse than I thought."

Umbreon gave it the same glare for hurting Ralts, "What should we do with it then?"

Haunter sighed and this time gripped Ralts's palms in his hands, hoping his cold skin would dull her pain a little, "There's nothing much we can do. I've talked to the other spirits around the graveyard, but none of them seem to have any ideas."

"Do you want to stay at the burrow with Ralts and I?"

"No, I don't think it's a good idea to leave it by itself. Besides, I'm feeling a little sluggish. I wasn't able to sleep well today. Probably because I'm a little anxious for Halloween night."

Umbreon nodded, feeling tired herself from taking care of Ralts all day. She may stay up most of the night, but Ralts wasn't a nocturnal Pokémon like her and needed to move in the daytime. This had her tired during the night.

Seeing no choice, she sighed and told him, "Well, I'd rather not leave you alone with it either, so Ralts and I will stay with you for now until we can figure this out. Is that okay?"

Haunter seemed hesitant on letting them stay after the Bell of Death had just harmed Ralts, but as long as they kept her away from it she should be fine. Besides, it was better to have two watch over the bell instead of just one, right?

Reluctantly agreeing, he nodded his body up and down, "I suppose that would be best."

Umbreon was just as hesitant as he was, but it was for his safety after all. She didn't want him to get hurt in case this thing decided to become possessed or something and start attacking everything.

Going towards her usual spot, Umbreon lied down while Haunter brought Ralts over and rested her against the Eeveelution's flank. By now Ralts had stopped crying, but still gave out little whimpers of pain.  
Haunter rested himself behind them like he had a while before with his back against the wall and his disembodied claws on either side of them.  
It took a little while for the baby to finally snuggle into Umbreon's fur and fall asleep. Both adult Pokémon hoped the pain from the burn would fade by morning. They were still confused how it happened, but for now all they had to worry about was getting rest themselves. The next day was sure to be a long one after all.

* * *

The night went on with the Zoryn Cemetery quietly bustling with roaming ghosts.

Umbreon, Haunter, and Ralts were the only things that were asleep there.

Well, at least until Ralts woke with a jump.

She looked to the stairs of the tower, sensing a familiar presence. One she's been feeling for a while now.

Eager, she crawled away from Umbreon and Haunter without waking them towards the stairs. It took a moment for her to make it down, but she managed to crawl all the way down the steps and exit the stone tower.

Feeling the presence not too far off, she moved around the tower into the backyard, where no spirits were present at the time.

Yet the Psychic Pokémon could see something no one else could see unless they were a Psychic-type too. She crawled and stopped suddenly, smiling up at the seemingly invisible figure as if it were her best friend and waved at it like she had the day before.

There was silence for a moment, only the sound of the baby's cooing being heard in the empty lot of the Graveyard.

Finally, a voice full of static noise and pauses said out of nowhere, "YoU cAN sEe -sshzzt- mE, Can'T YOu? –bssss- "

The baby seemed to understand it and nodded happily, clapping her hands a few times.

The invisible creature let out a gurgled noise that was the closest thing it could do to a sigh and suddenly appeared in a flash of moving light.  
Beforehand, the baby could simply sense its bizarre presence and knew it was there, but didn't know what to think of the figure before her.

The best way to describe the form is it looked like a mass of moving pixels in the shape of a backwards L. The cluster of pixels were various shades of white, black, orange, grey, and purple that seemed to be constantly moving, pulsing, swirling, and occasionally fading. The space around the figure inverted and shifted occasionally, as if reality itself couldn't handle the thing in the same dimension. Even the grass it brushed over was beginning to disintegrate and fade away into green pixels.  
It was constantly making a loud static noise that sounded like a broken TV and began to hurt the baby Pokémon's ears, but she didn't seem to mind that much and continued to stare in awe at the strange creature.

Ever since she hatched, Ralts thought she could sense an unknown presence but had no idea what it was. It didn't feel like a living thing, but at the same time didn't feel like a spirit or a Pokémon for that matter, yet it was there.  
Now, any other Pokémon would have either run away in fear or attacked the strange anomaly, but for some reason she knew it wasn't hostile. If it wanted to hurt her or her 'parents' it would have already, but it didn't. Even at her young age she knew that.  
Still, now that she was actually looking at this stranger before her she did begin to feel a little uneasy and began to back away.

It seemed to know her thoughts and emotions and responded in a robotic tone with no distinguishable gender, "-zzzr- DoN'T Be aFRAid, ChILD, I –zzrttt- wILL nOT HARm –shhh- yOU."

For some reason that unemotional voice was enough to convince her and she stayed put. Still, she continued to stare in wide eyed awe and suspicion.

Making a humming noise, the figure then said, "PErHaPS tHis WiLl –zhh- COnvIncE YOu."

A sphere of light formed in front of Ralts and manifested into a purple Pecha Berry that promptly dropped to the ground.  
Excited to see the familiar berry, the baby quickly picked it up and began to devour it, no longer distrusting the anomaly.

It floated forward slightly and stated, "I WaS HOpIng YOu WOulDN'T –shhrt- nOtiCe Me uNTIl yOu – zssss- wERE OLDeR, BUt iT sEEms I UnDERESTImatED –kllrk- A PSYchiC-TyPE."

Ralts was too young to really comprehend what it meant and continued to eat the gift. Still, her red eyes remained on it the whole time.  
When she finally finished, she crawled forwards and reached out to touch the mysterious mass, fascinated by the colorful swirling pixels.

It suddenly made a screeching noise and reared back away from her to avoid her hand, "NO! YOu –shhsss- muSTn't tOucH Me wHILe I'M iN –zshh- THIs fORm!"

Surprised by its outburst, the baby obeyed and pulled her hand back, frowning at the cluster.

Realizing it had upset her, that wasn't what it wanted. Given its orders, its Master would be angry if it failed before her purpose was fulfilled.

Slowly, it said, "MAyBE tHiS wOUlD bE –kkrrr- BeTTER."

The colors of the space around it turned grey and then negative as it began to glow and change into another figure.  
In a flash of pixilated white light, it changed into what looked to be a holographic Dusknoir. Occasionally its body would flicker or shift, but the space around it didn't seem affected now that it actually had a physical form. The static sound its body made was a lot quieter and it seemed to be more stable.

It looked down at her with its red eye and calmly said in a distinct male voice, "It is safe –shht- for us to interact now that we are in the same space and dimension as one another."  
There were far less pauses and white noise in its words now, "This body is not my –rrrsss- own, I am merely copying a male Dusknoir I scanned earlier. I have chosen the form of a Pokémon because I believe having a –kkkliick- face to talk to is easier than just a mass of pixels."

Though this new form was pretty scary, it wasn't nearly as bad as the cluster of color now that it actually represented something familiar like a Pokémon.

Understanding it wasn't dangerous to touch the figure anymore, Ralts once again reached out and this time the faux Dusknoir allowed her to touch one of its large hands.

At first it seemed to pull slightly away again, but resisted from fully retreating. If she was going to trust it in the future, she would have to begin trusting it now.

Still, it seemed slightly uncomfortable.

Ralts could sense its emotions, as vague and foreign as they were, with her horns and looked up to it.

The abnormal Dusknoir looked back and was a bit stunned at first. The baby looked very concerned with it for a moment, as if she was actually worried about how it felt. This was unusual for the anomaly since no one that knew of its existence felt any kind of sympathy for it. Its very own Creator had called it a mistake, which was true.

Still, this situation was understandable. Ralts was too young and naive to even know what it was or how much potential danger she's in just being around it.

_If only you knew, you'd be like all the others._

It thought to itself before turning it's hand over so her paws were resting in its palm.

Then it said, "I saw what happened to you -sskk- earlier with the bell. I wish I was able to -rrrree- warn you all, but I'm bound by certain...rules." It gently closed its fingers around her hands, "Still, I don't think -rrrssk- there's any harm in doing this."

A tingling sensation crawled up Ralts's arm as a light formed between it's fingers. It opened his hand again and Ralts looked at her palms to see that the burns from the bell were completely gone. Somehow it had healed her.

She looked back up at the entity gratefully and it simply shrugged back, "You can do alot of things -kkss- when you exist on a different spacial plane."

Ralts didn't understand what that meant at all, but she was happy that it had healed her and decided that it was her new friend.

It pulled away from her slightly and stated in as serious a tone as it could, "Ralts, listen to –shrrk- me. Though I have shown myself, you mustn't try –zzzrt- to warn your parents. I have already broken several rules showing myself –ssssk- to you, much less speaking. I only appeared to tell you to keep my existence a secret –hhrrsss- from them, for now."

Ralts tilted her head at it. Though she didn't understand a whole lot of what it was telling her, she was able to pick up it didn't want her mom and dad to know about it yet.

It picked up on her suspicion and added, "Do not worry; though I will continue watching I will not harm any of you. I only mean to protect you until your day of reckoning, and to do that I have to be kept a secret from Umbreon and Haunter until my Creator says otherwise. It's not time for us to meet just yet, and if they find out about me too early because of my interference it may very well ruin your fate. You must trust me on this."

She couldn't really comprehend what it meant by her 'fate' or his 'interference', but she couldn't sense and deception from it so it must be honest.  
Slowly, the baby nodded to it, promising she would keep it a secret from her parents until it was ready to reveal itself to them.

Knowing she understood, it became a sphere of light and changed back into its pixilated form again, "I wON't Be FaR –ssshhh- ChILd, bUT REmEmBEr tO nOT –llsss- AcKNoWleDGE mE Like yOu Did YEsTeRDAy aT tHe BErrY TrEe. –krrkt-" The mass of pixels began to disappear and Ralts reached out, sad her new friend was leaving.  
It paused on its fading for a moment to say, "DoN't bE uPSet, wE wILL –zzzrk- sPEaK AGaIN."

Then it finally faded away into nothing, the only trace of its existence being the cluster of missing grass blades where it was floating. She no longer could feel its presence. Perhaps it went back to its dimension for now or something.

Ralts waited for a few minutes, but once she realized he wasn't coming back tonight she turned around and began to crawl back to the tower in a solemn manner.

It was the first friend she had made, and she wasn't allowed to even attempt telling her parents about it yet.

Oddly, why was that? Why was it so concerned about ruining her so called 'fate', whatever that was?

* * *

_For anyone that's played the games, you should already know who this anomaly is…_

_PS: Quick shout out to The Hidden Umbreon. Happy sweet 16!_


End file.
